UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine

04/10/2026

💙 April is Autism Awareness Month! 💙 We want to celebrate Kinsey, one of our Children's Miracle Network ambassadors at UF Health Shands Children's Hospital, who uses art as a form of expression.

At a young age, Kinsey was diagnosed autism, several learning disabilities and a rare, life-threatening genetic disease that causes small blood clots in small blood vessels, resulting in damage to her kidneys. In 2015, she underwent a successful kidney transplant and started a new journey. After several years, the transplant began to fail.

Today, Kinsey is back on dialysis and embracing her artistic side with UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine. In 2021, her artwork was brought to life through her coloring book, "My Vibrant Island." 🎨 She says life is about making memories. Her art accomplishments rival her magical moments at Walt Disney World as some of her favorites!

04/08/2026

Jessica Thornton, 41, has undergone chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation at UF Health's Medical Plaza to treat her stage 4 colorectal cancer. But according to her, she doesn't let these challenging treatments dull her creative spark ✨

"Having a creative outlet, and regular opportunities to create with Arts in Medicine, reminds me that my cancer treatment isn't all I do or all that I am," said Jessica of her art-making practice that she says supports her wellbeing.

Jessica also shared how important it is for people to know her age & diagnosis as an encouragement to get screened, because, she says, "if it's caught early, there is a lot that can be done to help."

04/08/2026

04/07/2026

How are you celebrating? 🤔

Our dedicated Shift Change Radio Hour volunteers asked healthcare workers for songs with poetic lyrics. 🎶

Discover their picks tomorrow, 4/8, on Shift Change Radio Hour, AIM's radio program showcasing healthcare workers’ song requests, testimonies, dedications/shout-outs, and exciting patient and AIM spotlights.
Listen in on the radio, Wednesdays from 6-7am and 6-7pm on The Wombat: WMBT 90.1 FM!

Also, you're invited to a special art pop-up and poetry reading! Join us and our friends at Streetlight on Thursday, 4/9, from 4-6PM as we honor and celebrate poetry written by sickle cell warriors with "I AM WARRIOR". Check out the flyer for details!

04/06/2026

Join UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine and Streetlight for this week's art pop-up, "I Am... Warrior" ❤️

Featuring a special poetry book written by Sickle Cell Warriors at UF Health that honor their real, lived experiences living with sickle cell.

Also on display will be artworks made in response to the powerful poems, each created by a UF student. 🎨

Join us this Thursday, April 9th, from 4-6PM in the Criser Cancer Resource Center (Room 1302). Located in the UF Health Cancer Hospital (1515 SW Archer Rd) on the first floor near Admissions.

04/06/2026

ATTN: photographers, artists, healthcare professionals, first responders, researchers, students, patients, and caregivers,

This open call invites you to submit photo and graphic works that explore the human, sensory, and technological realities of intensive care environments. 🏥🚑

Selected works will be curated for inclusion in the upcoming book Arts in Intensive Care, led by Mark ZY Tan and Michael Koon Boon Tan.
📅 Deadline: April 30, 2026
📩 Submit to: mtan@nafa.edu.sg
📌 Include up to 3 images, titles, and a 150–250 word artist statement.

Check out the post for more information.

📸 Photo Open Call | Illuminating Care | How can art reveal what is felt, sensed, and lived within intensive care?

This project invites photographers, artists, healthcare professionals, researchers, students, patients, and caregivers to submit photo and graphic works that explore the human, sensory, and technological realities of intensive care environments.

Moving beyond clinical documentation, this project reimagines intensive care as more than a biomedical space—it is an emotional and relational landscape shaped by vulnerability, compassion, interdependence, and the unseen labor of caregiving.

We welcome documentary or conceptual works that explore themes such as:
💡 The five senses in intensive care
💻 Human–machine relationships and care technologies
🖼️ The spatial and emotional landscapes of care
🫂 Compassion, dignity, recovery, and end-of-life
🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Family presence and absence
⏰ Time, uncertainty, and resilience

Selected works will be curated for inclusion in the upcoming book Arts in Intensive Care, led by Mark ZY Tan and Michael Koon Boon Tan.

📅 Deadline: April 30, 2026
📩 Submit to: mtan@nafa.edu.sg
📌 Include up to 3 images, titles, and a 150–250 word artist statement.

UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine, UF Health

04/02/2026

Congratulations to visual artist and Arts in Medicine practitioner, Leslie Tharp, on receiving this year's Public Art Award from the City of Gainesville! 📣

04/02/2026

A new article from Reasons to be Cheerful highlights how creative practices are increasingly recognized as powerful tools for health, and spotlights the groundbreaking work happening at UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine.

At UF Health, artists work alongside clinicians to support patients through music, visual arts, movement, and storytelling- often through referrals written directly into patient charts. In 2025 alone, the program facilitated more than 13,000 arts engagements with patients, demonstrating how creativity can complement medical care and help people find connection, meaning, and relief during difficult moments.

We’re proud to see this work recognized as part of a growing movement showing that access to the arts can be a powerful determinant of health and wellbeing. 🎨

Read the story here: https://reasonstobecheerful.world/art-for-health/

04/01/2026

Did you know? 🤔
Making art, in all its forms, is considered a health behavior!

Arts in Medicine (AIM) expands access to arts-based activities through regular community outreach events like the GatoRx Community Care Fair that was held this past weekend.

Hosted by the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, AIM brought free creative arts activities to Gainesville's Eastside community. From haikus and Indian dancing, to drum circles and button-making, attendees tapped into their inner artists and made new connections, for the health of it! 🧡

Learn more about how the arts can be used as a tool to help us stay healthy and maintain our well-being: https://news.ufl.edu/2023/09/arts-on-prescription-field-guide/

03/30/2026

Colorful Friday mornings at UF Health Chronic Dialysis 🎨

Patients at the dialysis center have come to know that each Friday morning, visual artist Leslie Tharp and AIM volunteer Harlee Hix will offer free art activities at their bedside to help them pass the time and get creative.

Shown here is a "stained glass" activity, where patients and staff create a window hanging using colored plastic sheets and glue.

"I really enjoy working with the patients and interacting with the staff on Friday mornings,” said Arts in Medicine Practitioner Leslie Tharp on her practice at the dialysis center.
“We are often laughing and finding new projects to experiment with. I've been really impressed with the artwork created in that period of time!"

Harlee Hix, a UF student and Arts in Medicine volunteer, said of her service hours at the dialysis center, "My experience volunteering in the dialysis center has shown me how much the little things matter, art gives patients something to look forward to and creates real moments of connection during long treatments.”

03/26/2026

Receiving care for cancer can be a lonely and isolating experience.

For an opportunity to pause and connect, Arts in Medicine is now offering a weekly art-making workshop to the patients, care partners, and staff on the UF Health Cancer Hospital's hematology/oncology unit. 🎨

Creative Connections is a free visual art workshop led by Ali Irrizary. As Arts in Medicine's administrative specialist and a visual artist herself, Ali also brings a past history of having worked on the hematology/oncology unit here at UF Health!

This week, Ali led Shehrzad, or “Sherri”, through a rock painting activity during her stay on the unit. Sherri was joined in the workshop by her nurse Michelle, RN, as well as Sherri's patient care assistant Louise. The three chatted as they painted and walked away feeling "uplifted by the experience" 🌟

03/20/2026

Robert "Bob" Shappy didn't consider art-making when he was admitted for complications relating to his heart.

While Bob awaited a transplant, he opened his mind to the idea of establishing an arts practice in his hospital room, with guidance and support from arts in medicine practitioner Sunita Shepherd and AIM volunteer Julia "Jules" Bush.

"I never gave arts and crafts a thought until you guys came, and I said, 'Why not? I'll try it because I'm just sitting here doing nothing.' This gives me something to do," said Mr. Shappy of his newfound interest in art-making.

Now that Mr. Shappy has received a new heart, he has decided to continue his exploration of visual arts when he leaves the hospital and embarks on life post-transplant.

"I actually really like it. I'm planning to continue making art when I go home. It helped me a lot through my journey here and it's a great way to pass the time. And I get to make my grandkids, Oscar & Evelyn, happy when they receive the art I made for them."