Art and Design Program

If you walk the grounds and public spaces of Herbert Wertheim Cancer Institute, you’ll notice unique works of art, including sculptures, quilts and textiles. The pieces are part of the Institute’s Art and Design Collection, established through the leadership and support of Michael J. Zinner, M.D., founding CEO and executive medical director; and Leonard Alan Kalman, M.D., executive deputy director and chief medical officer. Both physicians believe that surrounding patients and caregivers with art and beauty contributes to their physical and emotional well-being.

Research has shown that patients exposed to the arts experience less pain, decreased anxiety and a better overall mindset during cancer treatment. Along with the Institute’s Arts in Medicine program, our Art and Design Program cares for the whole person—body, mind and spirit.

We are proud to acknowledge the inaugural Advisory Council members of the Art and Design program, whose dedication and contributions to this project made it reality.

Bruce A. Beal, Sr.
Darlene Boytell-Pérez
Simon Levine
René Morales
Jordana Pomeroy
Stefanie Block Reed

Art and Design Collection

Four large-scale sculptures by three distinguished American artists and a group of brilliantly colored textiles and quilts were made possible through donors’ generous gifts. The sculptures, donated by Earl and Christy Powell, grace the Institute’s grounds; while three dozen quilts and textiles, a gift of JPMorgan Chase, are presented throughout the first floor of the Institute, located on the main campus of Baptist Health South Florida.

The quilts and textiles were created by artists from around the globe between 1800 to the present. Coming from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, many of these intricately crafted textiles and quilts were produced by unknown artisans who relied on knowledge handed down from generation to generation to create the pieces. Quilts and textiles in the Art and Design Collection served both ceremonial and practical uses, including bedding, wall hangings, currency and clothing for ritual dances. Many of these objects were made as gifts to mark a wedding or the birth of a child and were passed down as family heirlooms.

Baptist Health Foundation is grateful to the Powell family and JPMorgan Chase for their generous philanthropic support.

Special Exhibitions

To complement the Institute’s permanent holdings, the Art and Design Program features an ongoing series of special exhibitions in the Shaham Family Gallery. These exhibits, which change on a regular basis, highlight the work of artists and art with ties to South Florida. The inaugural exhibition celebrates the work of Lynne Golob Gelfman (1944-2020), a highly respected painter who moved to Miami in the early 1970s. The six large paintings on view in the Shaham Family Gallery reveal Golob Gelfman’s distinctive and elegant style grounded in the modernist tradition of geometric abstraction. Featured pieces in the exhibition also underscore her admiration for handcrafted objects and textiles from around the world.

Golob Gelfman cared deeply about the importance of art in everyone’s life. For decades, she donated her time and talent to teaching art to children at The Barnyard, a program of Coconut Grove Cares, and she was a founding member of the Art and Design Program at the Institute, where she was a patient.

The Shaham Family Gallery at Herbert Wertheim Cancer Institute is named in honor of the family of Jacob and Helen Shaham, philanthropic donors to Baptist Health Foundation.

Learn more about the program

To learn more about our arts program, please email MCIArtsInMedicine@BaptistHealth.net.

John Henry
United States (1943-2022)

December’s Wall, 1990
Welded and machined aluminum painted red, 100 x 50 x 54 inches

Herbert Wertheim Cancer Institute Art and Design Collection
Gift of Earl and Christy Powell

Restoration and installation supported by Michael J. Zinner, M.D.;
Bill and Susan Tillett; Louis J. Capano; Bill and Clare Banchs

Learn more about the program

Art and Design Collection

Sculptures

Quilts and Textiles

Africa

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and Asia

United States

Special Exhibitions Shaham Family Gallery

Lynne Golob Gelfman

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Special Exhibitions
Shaham Family Gallery