Art donation completes mother’s goal in memory of late daughter

Patients at Springfield Hospital will soon have soothing, colorful artwork in their rooms, through a mother’s wish and an $18,820 donation from the Susan Sebastien Foundation.

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2016-11-18 / Front Page Art donation completes mother’s goal in memory of late daughter By TORY JONES toryb@eagletimes.com A series of donated artworks on display at Springfield Hospital. — TORY JONES A series of donated artworks on display at Springfield Hospital. — TORY JONES SPRINGFIELD — Patients at Springfield Hospital will soon have soothing, colorful artwork in their rooms, through a mother’s wish and an $18,820 donation from the Susan Sebastien Foundation. The donation has allowed the hospital to purchase 38 works of art from a local gallery, enough to decorate the rooms of every patient in the hospital. The gift is the last in a series of donations to hospitals throughout Vermont, a legacy of the late Elise Braun of Waterbury. Braun founded the nonprofit Susan Sebastien Foundation several years ago after her daughter, Susie, was sick and staying in another hospital in Vermont. “There was nothing on the walls,” that her daughter could look at from her bed, said Larry Kraft, director of development for Springfield Hospital and Springfield Medical Care Systems (SMCS). Following the death of her daughter, Braun made it her mission to get artwork into every patient’s room in every hospital in Vermont. She succeeded. Springfield was the last hospital on the foundation’s list, Kraft said. Braun passed away in June of this year. With the donation to Springfield Hospital / SMCS, her foundation has met her goal. Gilbert Myers, a trustee of the foundation, came to Springfield Hospital on Friday, Nov. 11 to present the $18,820 check to Gallery at the Vault on behalf of hospital representatives. The donation allowed a committee to choose the 38 works of art, created by 10 local artists from within about a 20-mile radius, according to Tonia Fleming, development associate with the medical center. These artists are all from Chester, Springfield, Weathersfield, Bellows Falls and surrounding areas, she said. “We really wanted soothing, comforting art,” Kraft said. All of the original artwork was purchased through Gallery at the Vault in Springfield. The pieces include a range of photographs, watercolors, and other media. The hospital created a committee that worked with the artists to choose pieces that would be “pleasing and uplifting” for patient rooms, Fleming said. The artists included in the collection are Dawn Blanchard, Jeanne Carbonetti, Robert Carsten, Richard Cofrancesco, Len Emery, Peter Huntoon, Bradley Jackson, Robert O'Brien, Gene Parulis, and Stephen Whitaker. In addition to lending some comfort to patients while they are staying in the hospital, the donation has also inspired some employees, Kraft said. Although this group of 38 pieces is going into patient rooms and the childbirth center, one nurse has asked if she can also have artwork in her office, he said. Another staff member said she was inspired by the gift, and wants to donate additional pieces of art. Kraft said that in the past 16 years since he has been employed with the hospital, people have donated other works, such as a collection of 14 pieces from the Alice Baber Foundation about 15 years ago that went into an alternative health therapies department of the hospital and has since been distributed to other parts of the medical system. Occasionally the hospital will receive a single piece of art as either a donation or with the donor’s intention that the hospital sell it and keep the proceeds, he said. The collection is on display, in part, in the hospital’s library at this time. Because the donor has requested that non-glare glass be used in the rooms, several artists are reframing their pieces to include the special glass. All works will be returned to the hospital by Dec. 1. Next month, the hospital’s unit manager and its facilities director will begin hanging the pieces of art, one or two pieces per room, so they can be seen from the beds. For more information on SMCS, visit springfieldhospital.org.