Art á la Carte: Framing Hope

Hospitals are foreboding places that often conjure images of sterility and sickness. They’re not really the first place you think of for art collections.

But thanks to Art á la Carte — an entirely volunteer-run Calgary program that has made more than 50,000 hospital visits — paintings, photographs and murals are not only brightening up clinical spaces, they’re also helping in the treatment and care of long-term cancer patients.

What started out as a simple act of hanging pictures in a dying friend’s hospital room has evolved into a lifelong mission that Art á la Carte executive director and founder Debbie Baylin describes as “framing hope” — a means to connect and support caregivers, doctors, family members and patients through art.

Every Wednesday afternoon, volunteers visit the palliative and acute care units at the Foothills Medical Centre with a cart loaded with artwork ranging from beach and mountain scenes to portraits, Parisian bistros, prairie life or classics by fine-art masters. By allowing patients or family members to choose artwork themselves, the program gives them a small measure of control in often-uncontrollable circumstances.

Doctors and caregivers also find the artwork acts as a conversation-starter, and a means of sharing stories to ease the difficult treatments they have to administer.  

“It’s about seeing patients beyond their diseases,” says Baylin. “So often, when someone is diagnosed, they have very little control.” Giving cancer patients control over the art in their treatment rooms is a small, but vital gesture.

What Art á la Carte achieves in a simple, but profound way is the acknowledgment and celebration of people living with cancer, rather than dying from it.

Baylin devised the Art á la Carte concept when she began bringing posters and photos into the hospital room of her friend, Patti Hronek, who spent the final year of her life hospitalized with bone cancer. Baylin founded the program in 1994, in tribute to Hronek, with 75 posters donated by museums and galleries.

Now, operating primarily at the Foothills Medical Centre, Art á la Carte’s nearly 500-piece art collection is made up of donations from artists, corporate groups, poster manufacturers and the general public. The program doesn’t accept donated art anymore; instead, Art á la Carte uses financial donations to purchase art requested by patients.

The group facilitated the Footprints Gallery in the Foothill’s Minor Emergency and Intensive Care hallways, which features 80 original prints, photos and paintings, many by local artists. Recently, a ceiling with a backlit sky mural was installed above a radiation machine and another was installed over a patient bed in the chemotherapy unit at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre.

Art á la Carte has also expanded to Toronto, Victoria and Red Deer, where similar associations have been established. While Baylin started the program focused on the artwork, she quickly realized the visual and emotional significance it gave to all those involved.

“Surroundings are so critical,” she says. “Art is simply the catalyst. The real essence of the program is the human condition."

How you can help: Volunteer and make deliveries to patients, spread awareness about the program, or make a monetary contribution by calling 403-281-6131 or visit artalacarte.org.