A unique art program developed by Jane Crandell-Glass allows hospitalized cancer patients and outpatients who are receiving chemotherapy to participate in art and jewelry making. From 2002 to 2011, the first phase of Arts in Medicine (AIM) produced 200 paintings by adults and 100 paintings by children in the affiliated St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Domestic Affiliate Program at Feist-Weiller Cancer Center. This artwork was named the Jane Crandell-Glass Collection.
AIM offers cancer patients the opportunity to recreate art works by the Grand Masters and contemporary artists while receiving treatment in an out-patient clinic setting. The coordinating artist works with patients and volunteers to offer patients a meaningful activity that reduces stress and produces the beautiful paintings that are displayed in the hallways, clinics and lobbies of the Cancer Center and in the Hematology/Oncology unit at University Health.
The use of art to manage symptoms of adult cancer patients is explored in depth in the Journal of Psycho-Oncology. Findings demonstrate that “Art therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach that is being used by adults with cancer to manage a spectrum of treatment-related symptoms and facilitate the process of psychological readjustment to the loss, change and uncertainty characteristic of cancer survivorship.” (John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2010)