Yale Daily News: Art Exhibit Adorns Medical School (excerpt)

November 7, 2003

BY JEFF MUSKUS

University of Connecticut professor James Oliver Robertson speaks at the opening of a new exhibit at the Yale Physicians Building Thursday. Robertson, who has been treated for leukemia at the School of Medicine, has contributed art to the exhibit. His work is mostly oil paintings, many of which explored themes relating to living with cancer.

(HANNAH MILCH/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER)

[...]

Many of the participating artists live and work in the New Haven area. Printmaker and mixed media artist Evie Lindemann, for example, works at the Yale School of Nursing with children who have Type I diabetes.

"I thought this would be a good opportunity to share my reflections about people I work with and what they tell me about," Lindemann said. "Through my art, I've tried to explore what happens to people when they get sick, how they change both physically and emotionally, what they need."

Though most of the artists featured in the exhibit hail from Connecticut, there were notable exceptions. In attendance was Chinese painter Cuiying Zhang, who -- through the use of her interpreter, Yale School of Medicine postdoctoral fellow Yanping Lu -- said she has received considerable international attention for her paintings, which "manifest the truthfulness, compassion and tolerance of Falun Dafa."

Falun Dafa, a meditation exercise to which Zhang credits her recovery from crippling arthritis, has indirectly gained her nearly as much international attention as her paintings. Her role as an advocate for the exercise resulted in her eight-month imprisonment in China in 2000.

Lu, who is also president of the Connecticut Chinese Culture Association, echoed Zhang's appreciation for the "channels to voice out concerns" found in the U.S. She said the American government has been "really supportive" of Zhang, who appreciates that consideration.

After Clark's introductions and a complimentary dinner on the building's first floor, selections from Caduceus, the new Yale Medical Group Art Place Poetry Anthology, were read aloud.

The exhibit will be on display and for sale through April 2004.

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