Jennifer’s Art

This gallery shows selected artwork created by Jennifer McCormick, first recipient of MOFSA’s spiritual art grant. The complete collection was exhibited at Mint Hill Arts in Mint Hill, North Carolina, January 23 – February 22, 2019.

There Is Healing in a Story
An Invitation to Spiritual Art
by Jennifer McCormick

My art begins where my understanding of medicine ends. Professional medical illustration teaches audiences health, injury, and the technical aspects of surgery. Though I’ve observed surgery in my training, I don’t get to interact with patients in a clinical setting. I’ve yearned for that connection. The spiritual aspects of caring for the human body and spirit move me deeply. So, it is the subject of my imagination and fine art.

The exhibit you see before you includes two distinct bodies of work that both involve diagnostic films. I choose select films, print them and then work back into them with either pastel, encaustic, or oil. The first situated around the outside of the room is called the “X-Ray Visions Series”; created between 2008 and 2016. These images are anonymous patient films that explore the “art” of patient care: like working as team, the dedication required for physical rehabilitation, the joy of birth, the mystery of death and the strange possibilities that come with a sudden change in health status.

X-Ray Vision Series

The second group is called “There is Medicine in a Story”. It was created in response to being chosen as the first spiritual art grant recipient of the Marianne Oberg Foundation for Spiritual Art. Though I could have taken any number of new directions, it was the story of the foundation’s namesake that moved me. Marianne Oberg was a brilliant woman and artist whose life was tragically cut short.  I asked her husband, Bob Oberg, permission to use her final diagnostic films to inspire art in response to the journey though physical form and into the realm of spirit. Bob trusted me. He inspired me with his writing.

In the studio I contemplated the power of enduring love, listened to teachings of Thich Nat Hanh, listened to books about the afterlife, began to practice meditation on a more frequent basis. In May, events unfolded that strengthened my belief of spiritual guidance. My hope is that this body of work will inspire you to find the Medicine in Your Story. You are not alone.

There is Medicine in a Story

There Is Healing in a Story (20 page booklet)