Staring up at her artwork, Gail Mallory had come full circle.

The 54-year-old’s two pieces hang on the waiting room wall of the mental health center at Eskenazi’s new health clinic on East 38th Street, close to her childhood home. The embroidery-thread art, inspired by fabrics she saw on a trip to Ghana, came from her mind to her hands.

“If you put more energy in you, all these beautiful things come out,” Mallory said.

That was an insight from her therapist, who recommended creating things as an outlet for depression. Mallory hopes her art will be a source of calm for people who also struggle with mental health. 

When she was 21, she worked at downtown’s Wishard Memorial Hospital — which later became Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital — and checked in patients at the emergency room. She remembers the clinical white walls there. 

“I saw all of the trauma, the shootings and the killings,” Mallory said. “We had no artwork to look at.”

Starting April 17, patients at Eskenazi’s new east side clinic can see 92 artworks by 52 Indianapolis artists, many with ties to the neighborhood. The ambitious collection is on par with the city’s galleries and museums displaying works by living Hoosiers, and it’s the latest chapter in Eskenazi’s century-long investment in public art. 

[The new clinic will serve patients regardless of their ability to pay.]

On April 1, the artworks were unveiled at a private reception. The evening had the feel of a gallery opening, with jazz pianist Christopher Pitts performing while curators and artists greeted each other. Of the 52 artists who created artworks, 35 either live or have lived or worked on the east side.

Karen Pope has seen the area evolve throughout her life. As a young girl, walking from her home on 38th Street and Emerson Avenue to the local bowling alley, she would pass groves of honeysuckle trees and look for tadpoles in a small creek. 

The grocery store wasn’t just a place to shop for food; it was a place you’d run into your teachers, pastors or classmates. Many of the businesses from her childhood no longer stand, and the sense of community she remembers has ebbed and flowed. The 63-year-old writer lives just a few miles from her childhood stomping grounds. 

To document the changes in her neighborhood, Pope wrote a poem, “Iterations,” that a graphic designer turned into a mural on the first floor of the clinic. She recited it at the ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 21. This was a feat for Pope, who had to learn to walk and talk again after a traumatic brain injury 22 years ago. 

“That was the moment and I was not about to crack. I was grateful my voice was strong,” she said. “The part of me that the brain injury didn’t kill was my determination. If anything, it put a fire on me.”

“From Value City to a city of value”

Art can improve health outcomes and bring a sense of safety and connection to patients. Studies show looking at art can reduce the length of hospital stays and decrease the need for pain medication among surgery patients.

The new artworks, curated by Mike Barclay, are part of Eskenazi’s ongoing investment in art to build community and foster wellness. The health care system has a 400-piece collection displayed in its main hospital and neighborhood clinics, representing an investment of $750,000. 

Barclay, the president of 60 on Center, an arts consulting firm, has worked with Eskenazi, as well as the Indy Arts Council, Indy Pride and GANGGANG. The latter helped commission five pieces in the center, which was built on a site where a Value City Furniture store once stood. 

“Mike said when we met, ‘Oh, we’re going from Value City to a city of value,’ and I thought about that, and that got me thinking about the iteration of all that’s been on this land,” Pope said. “I wanted to speak to the history of the land, the people that came before and what it’s meant for me and what it’s meant for the community.”

Over 330 artists responded to a public call for applications. Barclay wanted the space — and the artists — to reflect the diversity of the community. Not only do many of the artists have neighborhood connections, but Barclay estimates that 35% of the artists are Black, 30% are white and 15% are Latine.

Artists include Shamira Wilson, who made the “Seed Swap” mural at the Indiana State Museum with designer Danicia Monét; Matthew Cooper, an Indy Arts Council Art & Soul 2021 featured artist; D. Del Reverda-Jennings, founder of FLAVA FRESH!; Herron School of Art and Design Professor Aaron Coleman; and textile and ceramic installation artist Gina Lee Robbins. 

Beatriz Vasquez, who lives in Woodruff Place, works in papel picado — a traditional Mexican paper-cut artform. The piece she created for the clinic depicts the first time she visited San Luis Potosi, Mexico, where her parents and grandparents grew up, when she was 12. 

“It’s absolutely incredible and it’s about time that we are honored in our own spaces,” Vasquez said. “It always seems like spaces like this, hospitals and universities, are organizations where the majority of the people they serve are right here, but they seem to go out to other places to find artists to fill their space.”

“You’re being taken care of, being seen and being heard.”

One of the first things visitors to the health center will see is a sculpture created by Rebekah Nolan, the artist and designer behind spaces like Strange Bird, Love Handle and Tinker Coffee, which was a collaboration between Nolan and 900 North Studios. She wants her 12-foot-tall sculpture, her first work of that scale, to create a feeling of trust and belonging. 

“When you can walk into a space that is offering you care and see yourself reflected in this space, that’s such a reassuring force that you’re being taken care of, being seen and being heard,” she said. 

Lauren Daugherty, an art therapist and visiting clinical professor at IU Indianapolis’s Herron School of Art and Design, said looking at art is a way of practicing mindfulness. She recommends hospitals go beyond traditional nature scenes and challenge their patients to interpret abstract art and sculptures. 

“It can provide some stimulation that helps us get out of our heads,” Daugherty said. 

[Aaron Coleman’s work accompanied our MLK day poem by Mitchell L. H. Douglas]

Phil Campbell supervises a team of recovery coaches treating substance abuse disorder at Eskenazi Health. He’s found that art helps patients relax. 

“You have someone who’s rather paranoid, and you’re sitting in a cold office that’s echoey and you’re asking all these invasive questions,” Campbell said. “To have a piece of work that warms up the room makes it a calmer atmosphere.” 

Campbell, who has been sober for 15 years, created quilts from used clothing that are displayed inside Eskenazi’s new clinic. He hopes the pieces, which remind him of his grandmother, will be a source of comfort to others.

“I live around art,” he said. “It’s absolutely necessary, everywhere, always.”

Mirror Indy reporter Breanna Cooper covers arts and culture. Contact her at breanna.cooper@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X at @BreannaNCooper.

Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health. Reach her at maryclaire.molloy@mirrorindy.org.  Follow her on X @mcmolloy7.