Public Art Works Completed Fishnet Wall Mural

Pedi-Imaging
MRI Room

Providence Business News 5/3/10

January 2010
New England Foundation for the Arts Awards Grant for Public Art Works to Create- Provide- Transform at Hasbro Children’s Hospital
Click here to view Press Release

Magnets Pull on Creativity

Phase III The Fishnet Mural
For Immediate Release April 2010

Funded in part by the Arts Jobs program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Public Art Works (PAW) an association of Rhode Island artists who create art in public spaces has recently completed an art installation in the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) room, located in the Pediatric-Imaging Center at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, RI. This was not just any nail it to the wall art installation but one that needed special considerations when it came to installing in a highly magnetized environment.

“Instead of a cold institutional room, this project transformed our pediatric MRI suite into a friendly fun place. The friendliness of the room encourages the children to dispel their fears and facilitates an MRI exam without motion and anxiety.”
Dr. John J. Cronan, Radiologist-in-Chief, Rhode Island Hospital
Professor and Chairman, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Click here to view The Fishnet Project during its creation

Paint for this project has been kindly donated
by Adlers Design Center, Providence, RI



		'Dolphin Queen' 3' x 2' Accompanying wall piece

		Click on images to view large

'The Fishnet' 6' x 16'

Please note that cameras were not allowed into the MRI Room due to magnetism. This photo has been superimposed onto a color wall similar to the one in the MRI Room.

One of the busiest Imaging Centers in the United States, families and staff at Hasbro Children’s Hospital are delighted with the new 6 ft x 16 ft wall relief created specifically for the MRI room. The sculpture painting they created titled “Fishnet”, is one of several installations in a series of colorful paintings the team has made, inspired by the underwater theme at the hospital. The painting reflects a visual collage of imagery located throughout the center.

“Installing the relief mural was no small task...”
commented Nancy Gaucher-Thomas, Public Art Works member, “and needed the careful consideration and recommendations by several people involved in the project including facilities management and staff that have been highly trained in this area. Due to the extreme magnetic force within the room, no metal of any kind could be used. A daunting thought considering the ten sections of the sculpture painting, that spanned the large observation window. Plastic screws were a consideration however screwdrivers were not. Each person working in that room first had to be body scanned, and was required to fill out a three page personal information form signing off that they were not pregnant and did not have any metal in their body particularly metal splinters in the eyes. The artists had to take all their preliminary measurement with a paper ruler and pencils without metal eraser bands, metal tape measures were forbidden, as were hammers, paint brushes, cans of paint, cameras, metal pens, and belt buckles. All personal belongings were left outside the room. This machine weighs approximately 4 tons and costs around 2 million dollars.

Daniel Arcuri, Senior MRI Technologist at Rhode Island Hospital said; “The magnetic field of our 1.5 Tesla MRI machine is 30,000 times stronger than the earth’s magnetic field. Items such as hospital stretchers, floor buffers or oxygen tanks are impossible to pry off of the machine without shutting the machine completely down (costing the hospital tens of thousands of dollars in repair costs not including lost revenue). Even small metal objects like a pair of scissors can be extremely harmful or lethal to anyone in its path if accidentally brought into the magnet room”.

Finally, after much discussion it was decided to use a very powerful adhesive to adhere the lightweight sections to the wall. Nails, screws,

The MRI room at Hasbro Children’s Hospital
(photo view from outside of the room)

bolts and clips could not be used due to restrictions on puncturing the surface of the walls. The MRI unit is one of the busiest in the hospital with morning until night scheduling. The artists and Hasbro staff met at 5am to begin the install that needed to be completed in a very short 60 – 90 minute window of time before the first patient was to be wheeled in.
Kenn Speiser, PAW member said, “This has been a very challenging project. One where we started out with a plan for one area that quickly had to be revamped to accommodate another area of critical importance. It’s very interesting creating art in a highly restricted, public space and also working within architectural and engineering specifications, but this is part of what we do as artists”.
The “Fishnet” project was partially funded with a $10,000 grant from The New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA). The Rhode Island artists involved in the project are Nancy Gaucher-Thomas, Warwick; Kenn Speiser, Providence; Merle Mainelli Poulton, Lincoln; Michele Leavitt, Saunderstown and Aimee Heru, East Greenwich.
Merle Mainelli Poulton who was responsible for the actual construction and layout of the entire “Fishnet” relief, reflects back on the process. “Have I really worked on this for two months? I could work on it for another year and it still wouldn’t feel completed”. And she also reflects on the finished piece; “If I were a child in the MRI room, which part of the mural would be magical, keep my attention, and let my mind drift? If I kept looking at the “Fishnet” more fish would appear than are actually in it. Those puzzle shapes when put together in your mind actually become fish”.

Installation process outside of the MRI Room

Also in support of the project was Adler’s Hardware of Providence. Harry Adler said, “For the past 91 years, and three generations, my family has been active supporters of the greater Providence community that has so loyally patronized our retail shop. I was particularly excited to be approached to supply paint for this project. Helping children and easing the stress of an MRI with this wonderful mural was a true pleasure. I’ve never seen the C2 Paints that we donated look so good.".
“Imagine having to take your sick child to the hospital and then imagine having to prepare him/her for an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) test. It doesn’t get more stressful than this for a parent and surely for the child. Incorporating art, which brings the natural world into the space, provides the comforting human touch in an otherwise impersonal high-tech environment. This offers a welcome respite from the anxiety associated with an MRI experience.
A new artwork, Fishnet Mural by Public Art Works artists (PAW), was recently installed in the MRI room in The Center for Pediatric Imaging.

Harry Adler owner of Adler’s Design Center and
Hardwarein Providence

The mural helps the tech people to re-focus the patient’s attention away from the machinery and the test and back into an imaginary world with which they are familiar. This engaging mural depicting fanciful fish and fauna is a colorful addition to this once sterile room and is delighting patients, families and staff.” Paula Most, Arts Coordinator for Lifespan

Paula Most, Coordinator for the Arts at Lifespan

Daniel Arcuri, Senior MRI Technologist
at Rhode Island Hospital

Providence Business News Story



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