The Art of Healing – Cork Marcheschi’s Three Major Sculptures in Renown Center Healing Garden in Reno, Nevada

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) April 30, 2010 -- Cork Marcheschi, San Francisco public artist and fine art sculptor, completed a major project involving three large, intricate pieces for Fianna’s Healing Garden at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, which enabled him to apply the function of art and his experience as a creator of large scale public sculptures to the art of healing.

Construction of the new Tahoe Tower at the Renown Hospital in late 2007 left a space the size of a football field which Jim Miller, President and CEO of the hospital, thought would make a perfect healing garden and help inspire and lighten the load of patients and their families and loved ones as they went through the often traumatic experiences associated with hospitalization. The Healing Garden was named after Fianna, the “plant person” who was the power behind the plantings and the choice of flora for the Healing Garden.

Turkey Stremmel, who with her husband Peter owns and runs the Stremmel Gallery in Reno, was put in charge of the art for both the Tahoe Tower’s common areas and190 patient rooms and for the monumental sculptures in Fianna’s Healing Garden. She was immediately very impressed with Cork Marcheschi’s initial concepts for the sculptures, which rapidly blossomed into three distinctly individual pieces:

The Circle of Squares

The Circle of Squares is a 6 foot diameter metaphor for the hospital, organized, sterile, and consisting of many segments which have to work together to make a whole.

The Wind Column
A more traditional sculpture for the garden would have been safe and easy, but invisible. Few people would be moved or even notice a 'standard' bronze or a 'high tech' polished aluminum piece.

The Brancusi
The Column That Supports The Sky is a 21’ tall sculpture fabricated from stainless steel and blown glass that takes its inspiration from the work of Constantine Brancusi.

The response from patients and visitors to the hospital has been overwhelming.

“Cork was an absolute delight to work with,” says Turkey Stremmel. “Just one of the best. And it comes from his heart and his mind too. He is so creative. There’s a part of Cork that to me is so unlike a lot of other sculptors that I know. There is just a presence and a working mind that can make things come together just so well.”

Says Cork of the Renown project, “I wanted to create pieces that had the potential to very gently and naturally engage people in the garden. The situation of spending time in the hospital either as patients or waiting for a loved one can be incredibly stressful. This is an opportunity to have art function as a tool for healing.”

“The Healing Garden is a new and wonderful focal point on our campus.” says Jim Miller, President and CEO of Renown. “It has enhanced the campus experience for our patients, visitors and even our staff. We are so grateful for Cork’s vision and talent, and his sculptures delight visitors on a daily basis.  The feedback on all fronts has been tremendous.”

Cork Marcheschi     Healing Garden     public sculpture