January 27, 2025 | Annette Saunders
The art on display at Purdue’s Nursing Center for Family Health (NCFH) is a prime example of how a partnership grounded in experiential education can be transformative for all who are involved.
In the summer of 2023, Elizabeth Wertz, director of the NCFH, noticed that the walls of the nursing clinic were bland and blank, and she wanted something that could make the space more inviting. She reached out to Purdue’s Department of Art & Design with the idea of including student work in the space and was connected with Fabian Winkler, a professor of art and design in the Rueff School of Design, Art and Performance. Winkler agreed to a partnership with NCFH, sharing that many art students do not typically get a chance to formally display their art on campus. This experience would be a pivotal opportunity for students to get their foot in the door of having their pieces showcased. The pair began accepting student submissions in Fall 2023 and have since displayed a new set of student art each semester in the NCFH. The art has included 2D, light-weight 3D and digital mediums and is selected through a juried process. The jury reviews and deliberates on each submission, making selections based on the visual needs of the NCFH clinic and the skill standards of the Art & Design Department.
Once selected for the show, the art is placed strategically throughout the NCFH space to incorporate each piece within the clinical purpose for the area while also pairing it with some of the visual culture that already exists at the NCFH. Winkler stated that in the future it would be interesting to have the students come in earlier to help deliberate on where their art should go and potentially even have them create pieces specifically for the space.
So far, the response from the students on the opportunity to implement their art in the NCFH has been “overwhelmingly positive” according to Winkler. He and Wertz have even received multiple submissions from the same artists across multiple semesters and have been able to display students' work multiple times. Ashlyn Bowen, a senior in Studio Arts and Technology at Purdue and three-time NCFH exhibitionist shared, “I decided to submit my artwork to the gallery in the Nursing Center because it’s a chance to expose my work to fresh eyes.” She added that she is excited by the fact that her art can impact those who see it in the NCFH indirectly, whether it is to “brighten someone’s day or get their creative juices flowing.” Wertz noted that the faculty and staff have been appreciative of the artwork and that “Everybody really enjoys being able to be in the waiting area or walk down the hall and see something that has been specially picked out to be there.”
Looking ahead, Wertz and Winkler feel that there are a lot of opportunities to expand the work they have begun in this area. They hope to be able to explore the interaction of art and health, and to see nursing and art student groups working together. They would also like to be able to expand the different types of art work that can accept to include a broader range of artistic mediums. Winkler added that they would like to foster continuous improvement of the process through funding and feedback. “We learn from each other in this process but now we’re also interested in learning more from our audiences, possibly also from the artists involved so that we can constantly improve with our work for this project,” he further stated.
Wertz and Winkler find experiential education to be a pivotal factor in their partnership. They noted that it gives students real-world experience in exhibiting their work in a more alternative space. This partnership also allows students to reach an audience that they most likely would not if their work was in a traditional gallery space. Artists are also able to receive feedback from a large variety of people. This work also connects multiple disciplines and departments across campus through experiential education. Additionally, Wertz noted that she hopes the art can positively impact the moods of those who enter the space.
For those interested in exploring a partnership across departments that may initially seem unrelated, Winkler advises to “be open to the ongoing learning process that is involved.” Wertz shared, “When combining two specialties or levels of expertise together, it’s important to be really open-minded and discuss different perspectives, takeaways, and how it can be mutually beneficial.”
The NCFH welcomes all community members, Purdue faculty, staff and students to come see the art exhibition. The clinic is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday – Thursday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday. If artists are interested in exhibiting their pieces, a new call for submissions will be available in January through the Rueff School of Design, Art, and Performance. Those with any questions can contact Wertz at ncfh@purdue.edu.