Conference Proceedings 2010 [pdf] - Art & Design Symposium ...

the artist was brought for a week of dialogue with diverse groups that included a discourse on diversity, a
discussion of policy issues, and sharing of experiences with death. Sessions targeted clergy, medical staff, and
professionals working with clients who are dying and their families. The sessions incorporated end of life care
in teaching how art can be used to communicate across disciplines.
The Honors Course
In addition to the activities that took place during the inaugural week of the Scherer exhibits, an Honors course
was developed. The course offered interdisciplinary didactic and experiential opportunities to explore the
interrelatedness of content, form, and subject as a unifying framework in art that focuses on end of life care.
Students explored art to understand end of life care by serving as docents for the Deidre Scherer exhibit. The
students were trained to provide resources for grief counseling to those individuals who attended the exhibit
tours who were in need of assistance. As part of their docent training, students met with the artist for intensive
explorations of the methods and meanings of her art. They also participated in the hands-on workshops offered
by the artist that demonstrated the techniques of her craft. During the course, students were immersed in
readings and media viewing on end of life topics. Following the docent service, students were trained as end of
life care volunteers and engaged in reflective hospice service learning. During their hospice service, students
continued to explore the artist’s methods by using drawing as a media of communication with patients in their
care. Weekly written reflections on their experiences facilitated contextualized dialogues that were reinforced
during class discussions. These dialogues encompassed societal norms, religious and cultural perspectives
and professional practices. As one student noted, “Death and dying are difficult to accept for many of us, but
Deidre has found a new and pure way to approach these emotional and unpleasant situations. I feel lucky to
be a part of spreading her message and studying her amazing talent as an artist as well as advocate for the
dying” (Abassi, 2009).
The Honors Course Revised
The success of the Honors course in realizing the goals of the collaboration led to requests for the
development of a replicable curricular model of instruction. Subsequent exhibitions in the community were
resources that were explored. The premise was that the lens of artists within other contextual frameworks will
sensitize an individual to an understanding of art as a vehicle for social change while maintaining the theme
that death and dying are an integral part of the process of life. The perspective gained from a direct
experience with art as a unifying framework, and communication with the artist, is augmented by an immersion
in the study of the subject of death and dying in art from an historical perspective.
It was found that significant exhibits were scheduled within the region that would allow technical and
conceptual formats appropriate to the development of the objectives of the course. The scheduled exhibits
included an exhibit of wood sculpture, Rhythm, at the Greenville Museum of Art that provided a platform for the
thematic discussion of art derived directly from life forms from nature. This provided a foundation for a
discussion of the cycle of life and death as integral to an understanding of the process of aging and the
process of dying. A partnership was established with the Greenville Museum of Art to engage the Honors
students as docents for this exhibit and to participate in a dialogue with the artist. The second venue identified
was an exhibit of the photographer, John Scarlata, “Living in the Light: A Retrospective” at the East Carolina
University’s Grey Gallery. Including a series of photographs from nature, this exhibit was appropriate to the
conceptual foundation of the revised course. Students were scheduled to interact with both the exhibited
photographer and other professional photographers to prepare for docent service. For the course project
concurrent with docent and healthcare service, the medium of photography was selected. Photography serves
as a visual conduit for exploring attitudes toward death and dying as revealed through the students’ interaction
with patients in their care.
Conclusion
Direct experiential training encompassing the extended patient/family unit is seldom addressed in healthcare
education. “Healthcare professionals are sometimes reluctant to diagnose dying as they have not been trained
to care for dying patients and therefore feel helpless.” (Ellershaw and Ward, 2003). The outcomes of this
pedagogical model demonstrate the value of interprofessional service learning as a pedagogical strategy that
can augment clinical preparation of future health professionals for end of life care. Art unifies communication
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