In November of 2016 Providence Care welcomed local artist Chris Miner as our first Artist-in-Residence. For six months Miner held a series of seminars at the former St. Mary’s of the Lake Hospital and invited patients, clients and family members to attend. At these seminars participants learned how to capture still life photographs of a variety of objects; they were taught how to take portraits with hard and soft lighting and how silhouettes can convey a person’s character through profile and gesture. In addition to the weekly seminars, Miner held family and friend portraiture sessions once a month.
On November 16, a year after Chris Miner began his residency, Providence Care hosted a gala to unveil a collection of photographs that were taken of and by patients and clients who participated in the Artist-in-Residence program. At the event Chris Miner addressed the audience which included countless patients, clients, family members, volunteers, staff, Board members, and Senior Leadership. “Photography”, he said, “makes visible the far away, the unseen and the inaccessible. What patients have chosen to photograph reveals parts of their lives: who is important, where their imaginations travel, what is interesting or beautiful.” As people walked around the room it became evident that every photograph tells a different story: a family sitting beside one another smiling, a mother and daughter holding hands, a proud moment along the road to rehabilitation.
Maryl Linton, a patient who participated in the Artist-in-Residence program, reflected on her experience at the event: “We learned how everyday objects can come together to create a meaningful photograph, and I learned that I could do something that I never would have tried without this opportunity.”
The Artist-in-Residence program is made possible through generous donors to the Stella Corkey Endowment Fund, and is administered by the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation (UHKF). In attendance at the gala was Nicole Pierce, Associate Director of Major Gifts for UHKF. Nicole spoke about the Stella Corkey Endowment Fund, and how bequests such as hers can have a lasting impact on patients, clients, residents, and families in Kingston’s hospitals.
Chris Miner reflected on his six-month tenure as Providence Care’s first Artist-in-Residence and said, “The most valuable gift I received from patients and the Providence Care community is to recognize, appreciate, and utilize what is in our lives, not what is lost, or what we wish for.” We thank Chris Miner for having a lasting impact on all of the patients, clients and family members who had the joy of participating in Providence Care’s first Artist-in-Residence program.
