Have you heard people say visiting a museum is good for you? Why is that? Grace Calame-Mars, a Nursing Professional Development Specialist, and Carolyn Halpin-Healy, an Art Educator at The Met, know the first-hand benefit of art in museums as a tool to help our well-being. Hear about the art therapy program they helped organize for medical professionals at NYU Langone Hospital, where close-looking exercises improved clinical observation skills and strengthened empathy, which became especially valuable tools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guests: Grace Calame-Mars, nurse educator at NYU Langone and Carolyn Halpin-Healy, art educator

Objects mentioned in this episode:

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Netherlandish, 1525–1569). The Harvesters, 1565. Oil on wood, 47 x 63 3/4 in. (119 x 162 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1919 (19.164)

Figure: Seated Couple, eighteenth–early nineteenth century. Mali, Dogon peoples. Wood, metal, H. 28 3/4 x W. 8 5/8 x D. 8 in. (73 x 21.9 x 20.3 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Lester Wunderman, 1977 (1977.394.15)

Jacques Louis David (French, 1748–1825). The Death of Socrates, 1787. Oil on canvas, 51 x 77 1/4 in. (129.5 x 196.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Wolfe Fund, 1931 (31.45)

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