Spring Exhibits in Health Sciences Library

The Art of an Art Therapist 

Health Science Library, March - August 2024

Working as an art therapist involves creative counseling approaches utilizing various art media to help clients process social, emotional, and psychological issues. Balancing self-care and caring for others in this helping profession can be challenging. Art therapists often use their own art-making practice to combat burnout and remain creatively engaged outside of their work.  Dr. Annie McFarland (Assistant Professor of Art Therapy) has been making art her entire life and has worked clinically as an art therapist since 2010. Her personal art-making often serves to process powerful client interactions, cope with compassion fatigue, and practice artistic self-care. In this exhibit, Dr. McFarland shares personal artwork consisting of a variety of media including collage, drawing, painting, and sketchbook work. 

Graphic Medicine: Ill-Conceived and Well-Drawn!

Health Sciences Library | Spring 2024 
A National Library of Medicine Exhibit

Graphic medicine shows the creator’s experiences of illness and health through a medium that is approachable and relatable. Artists and authors have drawn and written about cancer, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s Disease, sexual assault, and more

Photography by Allan Jones

An exhibit of various medical microscopic photographs using an Olympus polarizing microscope at a 10X objective. These photos are showcased in the Health Sciences Library study rooms.

After graduating from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and a biomedical photography internship at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Florida, Allan Jones began his medical photography profession at the WVU Hospital/Eye Center before continuing his career for 17 years at the King Khaled eye Hospital and the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Saudi Arabia. After returning to the WVU Eye Institute in 2004, Allan retired in 2008.

Life: Magnified

The installation is a selection of images from the NIH National Institute of General Medical Science's Life: Magnified's collection. The original exhibit was featured at Washington Dulles International Airport, and was the inspiration for this project. The images include cells from the human body, in addition to cells and structures of model organisms like fruit flies and zebrafish. Though many of the vibrant colors do not occur naturally, the chemical dyes and enhancements are a normal part of the processes that allow researchers to study structures within a cell. Specially ordered, low-profile light boxes enhance the colors and structures displayed in the photographs. More information about the project can be found on the NIH website.