Artist: Arlene Absatz
Medium: Handmade paper collage, mixed media

Boxed In is a collage of Absatz’s handmade papers. “This work expresses my feelings of being trapped in a grid within a box. The bright colors in the work demonstrate the bursting out of my condition.... [continued]

Artist: Michael Absatz , MD
Medium: Acrylic on canvas

“I see this painting as an aesthetic portrayal of the beauty of orthopaedic surgery, combining the softness of anatomy with the hard-edge coldness of technology.... [continued]

Artist: Frederick Azar , MD
Medium: Pencil on watercolor paper

Leonardo DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man was the most revered description of human composition during the Renaissance. His intent was to harmonize the relation between body parts while striving for perfection.... [continued]

Artist: Helen Bar-Lev
Medium: Watercolor painting

Bar-Lev painted a tranquil scene of a field full of cyclamens, anemones, and wildflowers set in Kiryat Shmona, northern Galilee, Israel. “My painting heals me,” says Bar-Lev, but adds that “unfortunately, the field has been burned out after rockets landed in it in the summer 2006 war.... [continued]

Artist: Colleen McLaughlin Barlow
Medium: Cast lead crystal

The work can be interpreted on a number of levels, but was initially conceived by McLaughlin Barlow’s interest in the human body sparked by her own orthopaedic history of broken and mended bones.... [continued]

Artist: Colleen McLaughlin Barlow
Medium: Cast lead crystal

“This piece is about the unity of humanity. It comprises the sacrum of an elderly man, the ilia of a 14-year-old boy and the remainder was modeled on a middle-aged woman.... [continued]

Artist: Judith Lynn Batten
Medium: Intaglio print -- copper etching

During the creation of this piece, Batten was dealing with a significant amount of low back pain. “I wanted to create a piece that focused on the contrast of fragility and strength.... [continued]

Artist: Joseph Benevenia , MD
Medium: Steel

These figures were inspired by the love and dedication parents show in nurturing their sick children. This can also be seen in the spouse or life partner’s dedication to the loved one dealing with disease.... [continued]

Artist: Joseph Benevenia , MD
Medium: Steel

Dr. Benevenia was inspired by his knowledge and vision of human anatomy when he created this sculpture. The cage illustrates the barrier that lies between the intimate secrets of the human body and the outside world, with the privilege to enter afforded only to the surgeon.... [continued]

Artist: Rayleigh Bennett
Medium: Clay sculpture

Bennett loves art because it not only allows her to do something for herself, but it also allows her to create gifts for others. Bennett’s mother says “Rayleigh has always tried everything and never has her hand kept her from doing anything.... [continued]

Artist: Lee Berger , MD
Medium: Watercolor

“This painting depicts the orthopaedic surgeon in the operating room. My life’s work!” Dr. Berger feels that “orthopaedic surgery is not only a science but an art, and the beauty of the art of orthopaedics is not only on the canvas but in the hearts of the orthopaedist and his patients.... [continued]

Artist: Desmond Blair
Medium: Oil painting

As an homage to the late R&B singer, Blair painted Aaliyah to capture the sense of freedom she brought to her performance. By focusing on her flowing hair in the painting, Blair has captured a certain essence of motion he feels represents a unique quality in the young singer.... [continued]

Artist: Bill Boettcher
Medium: Stained wood

This piece represents the cavern in Boettcher’s dream. The interior of this organic form represents the interior of a vertebra. “I concentrate on the interior of this organic form, thinking back to the cavernous space in my dream during my recovery.... [continued]

Artist: Robert Booth
Medium: Terracotta and mixed media

“There are certain moments in our lives when we must confront a profound change in an instant. With significant injury or loss comes an understanding of our physical self and the awareness of mortality is forever changed.... [continued]

Artist: R. Jane Bouchard
Medium: Wood

At the time Bouchard began dealing with a painful hip replacement she started to look seriously at antique shoe lasts to examine her thoughts about movement.... [continued]

Artist: Shannon Bourne
Medium: Oil on wood panel

There are several factors that influence the imagery of Bourne’s Components. With a newfound understanding of her body’s need for symmetry, this work reflects her need to find that balance.... [continued]

Artist: David Bovill , MD
Medium: Aluminum anesthetic stylets

Orthopaedic Trauma Surgeons represents the historical commitment of the profession to help preserve life and limb at a very basic level. The sculpture depicts the partnership and teaching relationship between trauma attendings, fellows, and residents.... [continued]

Artist: John Bovill
Medium: Acrylic

Art helped Bovill “think about nice things, and when I broke my wrist, to not think about the smelly cast or that I couldn’t use my wrist for a few weeks.... [continued]

Artist: Gary Brazina , MD
Medium: Steel sculpture

This metal sculpture, depicting scoliosis, was inspired by the classic orthopaedic symbol of the crooked, bent tree secured to a stake to help it grow straight.... [continued]

Artist: Tuy Nga Brignol
Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Brignol’s drawing was created without raising the pen or the ending point touching the beginning point. “Unity is anywhere – in all things.” Her work represents a woman with scoliosis dancing.... [continued]

Artist: Timi Bronson
Medium: Fabric

Most of Bronson’s design work is done on the computer. Bionic Back II is an art quilt created from a digital photo of the most recent x-ray of her back.... [continued]

Artist: Ben Brown
Medium: Duct tape and aluminum foil

This piece is part of an eight-piece hand-concentration project created by Brown to show the same concept through multiple angles. Working on this series has allowed him to display his condition in creative and intriguing angles while incorporating his sense of comedy and irony into the artwork.... [continued]

Artist: Ben Brown
Medium: Black and white foam core

This piece is part of an eight-piece hand-concentration project created by Brown to show the same concept through multiple angles. Working on this series has allowed him to display his condition in creative and intriguing angles while incorporating his sense of comedy and irony into the artwork.... [continued]

Artist: Ben Brown
Medium: Neon and wood

This piece is part of an eight-piece hand-concentration project created by Brown to show the same concept through multiple angles. Working on this series has allowed him to display his condition in creative and intriguing angles while incorporating his sense of comedy and irony into the artwork.... [continued]

Artist: Ben Brown
Medium: U.S. pennies

This piece is part of an eight-piece hand-concentration project created by Brown to show the same concept through multiple angles. Working on this series has allowed him to display his condition in creative and intriguing angles while incorporating his sense of comedy and irony into the artwork.... [continued]

Artist: Bill Bruckner
Medium: Acrylic on canvas

This dramatic portrait of a young woman seated in a wheelchair staring at the viewer captures the spirit of Bruckner’s ideal. His intention is to create images that convey disabled people’s ordinary – not heroic – dignity, humanity, and self-respect.... [continued]

Artist: Janet Burgess
Medium: Mixed-sumi-e, pencil, mylar and Japanese paper

Rediscovering her physical body in her artwork enables this picture to unite Burgess’ creative ability with her expressions of structure, movement and time, as captured in every stroke.... [continued]

Artist: Gregory Burns
Medium: Acrylic and mixed media on canvas

Burns began drawing and painting at the age of six because he enjoyed making pictures. Today, his artistic endeavors still provide him an outlet for his creative spirit, allowing him to release both the joys and sorrows of living.... [continued]

Artist: Angelica Busque
Medium: Graphic novel, pen and ink

After recovering from hip replacement surgery, Busque went back to school and created this 56-page graphic novel. “There are many things, both emotionally and physically, stopping me from what I want to do on a daily basis, but I always find myself being able to get up and keep pressing on.... [continued]

Artist: Patricia Cairns
Medium: Acrylic on canvas

As Patricia Cairns’ operation approached, and the pain in her hip intensified, the color and design in Opposing Forces unconsciously reflected Cairns’ experience.... [continued]

Artist: S. Terry Canale , MD
Medium: Acrylic

“Orthopaedic surgeons have made remarkable strides in learning to communicate with their patients. But now, with an increasingly diverse patient population, they need to become more culturally competent, treating patients of all cultures with respect and practicing patient-centered care.... [continued]

Artist: Mitchell Canoff
Medium: Photography

This multiple image photograph dramatically represents what a young, healthy body can do; bending, twisting, dancing with a natural grace and ease. All the while, the model’s eyes remain hauntingly transfixed on the viewer, almost as an invitation to join the swirl of movement.... [continued]

Artist: Greg Carden
Medium: Ink on paper

During the Plague, some physicians who dealt with the victims wore an elaborate and strange bird-like mask. The image was with the artist as he created Ewing’s Sarcoma, seeking to express how vulnerable one often feels as a patient, with doctors examining, poking, and prodding you.... [continued]

Artist: Courtney Cashell
Medium: Acrylic on illustration board

This work deftly illustrates the medical challenges Cashell has faced in her young life. The curve symbolizes a sense of entrapment. The corrections and rods show freedom and the salvation provided by orthopaedic surgery.... [continued]

Artist: Rosalie Cassell
Medium: Ink, watercolor, and colored pencil

This very personal illustration depicts Cassell’s vision of her knee’s condition after replacement surgery. “My knee felt like it was constructed of a wall of bricks, surrounded by steel cables.... [continued]

Artist: Elaine Cimino
Medium: Acrylic on canvas

This bold illustration of Cimino’s life-long struggle with surgeries is captured in vivid hues of red and blue over an ominous background of black. Chronicling her years of trials and tribulations, this work stands as a moving tribute to the endurance of the human spirit.... [continued]

Artist: Viktoria Ciostek
Medium: Bound book with black and white silver prints

This work explores the healing process of a reconstructive surgery, the raw physical progress, as well as the psychological frustrations of immobility.... [continued]

Artist: Mariana Clarke
Medium: Watercolor on canvas

This idyllic landscape captures the verve and energy of a bridge-covered stream.... [continued]

Artist: Simone Clemhout
Medium: Pencil drawing on paper

This cartoon is a humorous view of one facet of artificial limbs. “Earlier in life my artificial limb always squeaked. Other kids thought I was hiding... [continued]

Artist: Simone Clemhout
Medium: Pencil drawing on paper

Hurray for Progress compares the differences in orthopaedic solutions which Simone witnessed in her worldwide travels. ... [continued]

Artist: Simone Clemhout
Medium: Pencil drawing on paper

Clemhout witnessed this scene in a hospital (balloons and all) and thought, “Orthopaedic medicine can have a sense of fun and fun is healing.”... [continued]

Artist: Simone Clemhout
Medium: Pencil drawing on paper

While in rehabilitation to recover from her left hip replacement, it occurred to Clemhout that moving around with a walker after the initial pain could be fun.... [continued]

Artist: Celeste Collier
Medium: Watercolor

This painting is an expression of the transformation that occurred in Collier’s life as a result of a spinal fusion operation. The bright colors in the background evoke a feeling of joy, while the shamrock symbolizes not only the patient’s good fortune, but also the caring doctor that treated her as a young child.... [continued]

Artist: Thomas Conner
Medium: Crayon on paper

Conner’s work often depicts animals, his family, various vehicles and superheroes. Giraffe in a Fence was completed shortly after his 4th birthday.... [continued]

Artist: Christopher Conrad
Medium: Photography, black and white

Conrad had discovered Raven’s Eye Ridge years before his accident, and returned one winter to photograph the amazing potholes perched high above Canyonlands National Park.... [continued]

Artist: Lia Cook
Medium: Handwoven rayon and cotton on a digital jacquard loom

Cook created this artwork from images taken at the time of surgery, which included handwritten notes by the orthopaedic surgeon explaining what he saw during surgery.... [continued]

Artist: Rose Cosme
Medium: Digital inkjet print

This photo scenario is part of a three-year series that focuses on prosthetic pieces, mannequins, and various objects. Cosme’s work explores the issues of self-identity and self-image through the use of “…what some would call dark humor.... [continued]

Artist: Rosemary Feit Covey
Medium: Wood engraving

According to Covey, this print demonstrates one way in which we experience pain. During pain, we can feel our bodies, our very selves, caught on spikes.... [continued]

Artist: Katherine Crenshaw
Medium: Charcoal

Crenshaw first became interested in using x-rays as inspiration for her charcoal drawings during her senior year of high school. Her artistic predilection soon developed to a greater level of professional utility when she was chosen to illustrate the section title pages of Campbell’s Operative Orthopaedics, 11th Ed.... [continued]

Artist: Katherine Crenshaw
Medium: Charcoal

This charcoal rendering is of a cervical spine x-ray. Crenshaw finds amazement in the fact that the cervical spine not only keeps the head on the shoulders, but it also protects the most complex circuitry cable in the human body.... [continued]

Artist: Katherine Crenshaw
Medium: Charcoal

This charcoal rendering is of an x-ray of a congenital dislocated radial head. “The removal of the radial head removes the block to the bending joint.... [continued]

Artist: Katherine Crenshaw
Medium: Charcoal

This charcoal rendering is of an x-ray of a dancer’s legs and feet. “Dancing is excellent aerobic therapy for the mind and body.”... [continued]

Artist: Robert D 'Ambrosia , MD
Medium: Oil on canvas

“The tranquility of this setting and my attempts to communicate with the light and the land represent my partnership with my patients and our fragile environment.... [continued]

Artist: Linelle Dickinson
Medium: Shifu (woven paper) fiber art: paper thread, dress pattern paper, dye, discharge, interfacing, lacquer finish, handwoven, hand stitched, knotted, dyed, pierced

Dickinson’s work represents human coverings as a metaphor for how we try to protect and control our lives. At first glance one views layers of protective, secured armor.... [continued]

Artist: Angela Ditolla
Medium: Photographic mosaic

During Ditolla’s stay in the hospital, she participated in art therapy sessions with a ceramics artist. This collage is a photomosaic of the tiles she made during “Tile Day.... [continued]

Artist: Mikala Drake
Medium: Paint on red construction paper

“I like coming to Shriners because the people here love me and they help me,” says Drake. In this work, Drake expresses her feelings toward friends and family at the hospital through color.... [continued]

Artist: Sandra Dunn
Medium: Graphite and colored pencil

Dunn’s artwork is inspired and guided by the beauty and mystery of nature. In Waiting to Fly Again, she illustrates her physical and emotional journey following her fractured forearm.... [continued]

Artist: Siobhan M. Egan
Medium: Photography

“Doctors always described my discs to me as jelly doughnuts with the jelly coming out. The image always stuck in my head, so I decided to illustrate it in a photograph.... [continued]

Artist: Roberta Faulhaber
Medium: Oil on canvas

Down Under expresses the process of letting go into the hands of the therapist, releasing control, and relaxing into the possibilities of rising to the surface of freedom of movement and freedom from pain.... [continued]

Artist: Charles Fazzino
Medium: 3-D canvas original

Obsessed with bright colors and wonderful detail, Fazzino infuses this work with frenetic energy that offers a satirical and whimsical look at his current situation.... [continued]

Artist: Deborah Fell
Medium: Art quilt

“This art quilt demonstrates the geography of pain through color and line. The fiery red and orange edges show the chronic pain that can immobilize the recipient both emotionally and physically.... [continued]

Artist: Laura Ferguson
Medium: Oils, bronze powder, charcoal, pastel pencil, and oil crayon on paper

“Using my own body as my subject has allowed me to work from the inside out as well as the outside in… to convey the feeling of inhabiting inner space – kinesthetic, visceral and emotional – and the many ways that personal identity and even consciousness are rooted in the experiences of the body.... [continued]

Artist: Laura Ferguson
Medium: Oil, bronze powder, charcoal, pastel pencil, and oil crayon on paper,

The “floating colors” process combined with drawing creates the images, building the figures from many transparent layers, suggesting or revealing aspects of life that lie beneath the surface.... [continued]

Artist: Howard Finkel , MD
Medium: Bronze

“Osteoporosis remains one of the most disabling and expensive medical problems in the United States today, costing many billions of dollars a year and accompanied by untold suffering.... [continued]

Artist: John G. Finkenberg , MD
Medium: Bronze

Dr. Finkenberg was inspired by a poem from Dr. Gonzalo Ballon-Landa, an internal medicine physician: What is it about a surgeon’s hand that intrigues me? That dreams in me? Why can’t I understand? Simply, its healing power makes it a work of art.... [continued]

Artist: Rose-Lynn Fisher
Medium: Scanning electron microscope photograph, archival pigment on rag paper

This is a fragment of bone from the artist’s own hip, magnified 1600 times. The surface replacement had failed suddenly and had to be revised with a total hip replacement.... [continued]

Artist: Adrian Flatt , MD, FRCS
Medium: Hand-casted adult hands with instruments

Dr. Flatt’s description of this work conveys his deeply felt feelings about the subject. “Hands are a vital part of our persona – and the way they are kept and used in so many ways give valid clues about their owners.... [continued]

Artist: C. Timothy Floyd , MD
Medium: Inkjet print of black and white negative

During a humanitarian mission to a rural Iraqi home, surgeons from the 934th Forward Surgical Team encounter two children with cerebral palsy. Their means of ambulation is on their knees.... [continued]

Artist: C. Timothy Floyd , MD
Medium: Inkjet print of black and white negative

Maj. Hal Walker puts a young, apprehensive child at ease with his bedside manner. This boy with cerebral palsy could walk only on his knees and had developed secondary deformities and contractures.... [continued]

Artist: C. Timothy Floyd , MD
Medium: Inkjet print of black and white negative

While playing near his home, this boy was wounded when his brother accidentally detonated a mine that had been planted by Iraqi forces.... [continued]

Artist: John Fortune , MD
Medium: Digital image

Dr. Fortune describes Nightmare Melody as “a one-armed skeletal figure in a jaunty pose, playing the flute for a mysterious and unseen audience.... [continued]

Artist: John Fortune , MD
Medium: Digital image

This visually dramatic work highlights elements of a motorcycle mishap. An x-ray of a broken tibia, repaired with a steel plate and screws, is reflected in a motorcycle helmet visor.... [continued]

Artist: Susan Etcoff Fraerman
Medium: Fiber, off-loom bead weaving

Etcoff Fraerman fashioned each beaded, oversized ring to serve as a metaphor for children – our collective treasures – with the healing hand dressed in a gauntlet of woven beads.... [continued]

Artist: Susan Etcoff Fraerman
Medium: Fiber, off-loom bead weaving

This work pairs a vintage shoe form, altered to accommodate a bunion deformity, with a stiletto fashioned of woven glass beads. The beaded stiletto is installed on its side thus negating its wearability.... [continued]

Artist: Lou Fuchs
Medium: Alabaster stone

By physically focusing on the foundation of his body connected to the earth, his feet, Fuchs has created this bold striated foot-in-motion sculpture. This alabaster extremity represents the motional and emotional freedom available to the artist’s entire body once he received the proper medical care.... [continued]

Artist: Yvonne Galbraith
Medium: Photography

Galbraith remembers the difficulty of lifting her arm to comb her hair after suffering whiplash from a car accident. This photograph portrays an archaic understanding of supporting the hand and resting the soul, reflective of Galbraith’s time of feeling pain and healing.... [continued]

Artist: Yvonne Galbraith
Medium: Graphite and charcoal on handmade paper

This drawing expresses the insight gained by Galbraith of past experience with personal and family injury. Here the doctor’s hands examine a limb after cast removal.... [continued]

Artist: Henry Gamble , MD
Medium: Bronze

“The work Universal Concentration is an abstraction of the essence of beauty in the physical form representing body, mind, and spirit. The lady is headless because she symbolizes that we concentrate with our minds, not our heads.... [continued]

Artist: Anita Garza
Medium: Mixed media

This realistically stylized work of art presents a woman’s head that has been dramatically cut and filled with pills that are brimming out of the throat.... [continued]

Artist: Maria Lomas Garza
Medium: Acrylic and felt pen on canvas board

A self-taught artist, Garza has created a striking visual narrative done in the ex-voto style that is popular in Mexico. It is a dramatic scene of Garza on a hospital bed with her winged orthopaedic surgeon holding his instruments for surgery.... [continued]

Artist: Leonard Gerstein , MD
Medium: Carved basswood, with steel supports and redwood driftwood base,

This sculpture dramatically represents the surgeon’s hands at the precise moment of skillfully correcting the deformity of the most common wrist fracture.... [continued]

Artist: Thomas Grollman , MD
Medium: Mixed media

Dr. Grollman based his painting on a photograph of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in New Orleans where the 2006 AAOS Annual Meeting was scheduled. The original photograph of the jazz band was taken by his son in October 2004 before Hurricane Katrina.... [continued]

Artist: Jessie Grskovic
Medium: Stoneware

Grskovic wore a Milwaukee brace from ages 6 to 14. Her work, Vinyl Skin, illustrates the emotional and physical pain of confinement associated with scoliosis and wearing the back brace.... [continued]

Artist: Edward Hanley, Jr. , MD
Medium: Oil painting on canvas

This work dramatically illustrates the consequences of the aging process. Through the use of vivid color and rapt attention to detail, Dr. Hanley has captured the asymmetrical imbalance of a key component to the body’s support system at the period of degeneration.... [continued]

Artist: Andrea Hart
Medium: Mixed media

This piece is an abstract representation of Hart’s scoliosis. Using a crib frame as an element of support, Hart deftly rearranged the anchor points. By drawing on the paper behind the metal, she successfully enhanced the shadow effect.... [continued]

Artist: Yassamin Hazrati , MD
Medium: Watercolor

“My patient promised her husband a trip to Paris after the surgery. The painting depicts her joy in the giving of the present and the allure, mystery, romance, and playful spirit that I associate with Paris.... [continued]

Artist: John Herring , MD
Medium: Digital photography

A nurse, a baby, and a large, cold operating room: the essence of caring.... [continued]

Artist: John Herring , MD
Medium: Digital photography

The sleeping resident. Any time, any place, any opportunity.... [continued]

Artist: Xuan My Ho
Medium: Mosaic

Inspired by the work of Spain’s Antoni Gaudi, Ho has created a colorful mosaic that grew out of recurring dreams of being able to walk on the beach, dreams which she had during her two months spent in recovery after surgery.... [continued]

Artist: Anita Horton
Medium: Plaster, gauze, and zippers

Horton acknowledges that even though many years separate her from the elderly community, they share a common bone disease, osteoporosis. “We are all shapes and sizes; both straight and bent.... [continued]

Artist: Anita Horton
Medium: Paper collage on vellum

Horton turned to scripture for hope and inspiration in creating this collage. In Ezekiel 37, a valley of dry bones is described and in verse seven, the bones come together, “bone to bone,” and new life is restored.... [continued]

Artist: Kathleen Houston-Stokes
Medium: Limestone

This work was Houston-Stokes’ first attempt at bone abstraction. It speaks to the sacredness of all life and its cycle. The fissures in the bone, the edges, the surfaces, the joints, all guided the sculptor to an awareness of a power much higher than our own that engineered such a marvelous and beautiful form.... [continued]

Artist: Kendall Hurley
Medium: Acrylic blend

Hurley’s work reads from the top in a counterclockwise direction. It begins healthy and moves into the emotion caused by physical pain and the mental anguish of no longer being the person with whom you identify.... [continued]

Artist: Matthew Jimenez , MD
Medium: Watercolor

This watercolor study of a sagittal section of the pelvis and thigh is deftly illustrated in bold, primary simplicity. The elegance and efficiency of the composition and utility of the human form is effectively detailed with an almost clinical appreciation which is entirely attributable to the intimate understanding of the human anatomy by the artist.... [continued]

Artist: Ramon Jimenez , MD
Medium: Watercolor

This Mexican colonial scene depicts an older woman walking by a colorful walled home in town with the help of a cane. “This is very typical of my approach to a subject.... [continued]

Artist: Ricardo M. Jiménez
Medium: Mixed media painting

This self-portrait communicates Jiménez’s deep sorrow and hurt and acknowledges that there will be a rainbow at the end of this long, deep tunnel of despair.... [continued]

Artist: Ricardo M. Jiménez
Medium: Photograph

“This photograph is special to me since I relate to the daily lower back pain and helplessness of the proud figure of the old man and his crutch. These injuries contributed to my divorce and loss of my only child.... [continued]

Artist: Renate Jones
Medium: Ink on paper

The “bones” of Jones’ chaotic pattern drawings are based on the “broken” shapes of fractal geometry. When faced with overwhelming situations, Jones finds it comforting to know that there is a kind of beauty, even if it is a secret beauty that we have to go searching for, in the broken roughness of our lives.... [continued]

Artist: Andrew Kaplan , MD
Medium: Pencil on paper

Dr. Kaplan’s vow to treat all patients like family still resonates in his current practice of medicine. His drawing represents “the common oneness of all people, and the diversity of the self.... [continued]

Artist: Lena Kazer
Medium: Chalk and pencil on paper

This work portrays, in great detail, the vivid shadows and dimensions of each vertebra of the human spine.... [continued]

Artist: Shafiullah Khan
Medium: Crayon on paper

Embellished lettering is a common art form in Afghanistan. Khan loved lavishing a lot of time on his art and soon became a very different person with a ready smile.... [continued]

Artist: Robert Klapper , MD
Medium: Carrara marble

This piece is an “unfinished” David, utilizing marble from the same quarry where the real David was born. And just as an experienced surgeon begins to see the anatomy through the skin by gentle palpation, so too can the sculptor, by touching the raw stone, begin to see the anatomy that lies below.... [continued]

Artist: Peter Langan , MD
Medium: Oil on canvas

“In late December 1995, I admitted a former patient to the hospital for a total hip replacement. I painted his picture. The likeness is good, but the painting was done from a small point-and-shoot camera photo which was poorly lit, and without so much detail.... [continued]

Artist: Peter Langan , MD
Medium: Oil on canvas

Dr. Langan painted a portrait of one of his surgical technicians, Dave, in the style of Diego Velazquez’s Juan de Pareja. Dr. Langan credits his surgical technician as being a great technical asset in the operating room, bringing a real sense of confidence to the job.... [continued]

Artist: Catherine Larson
Medium: Mixed media: aluminum, motor, light, x-ray

In The Iron Upright, the metal on the outside is a symbol for strength and stability. Conversely, the metal on the inside is an aid used to support and correct.... [continued]

Artist: Alicia LaSalle , MD
Medium: Oil on canvas

The Art of Healing – The Woman is Dr. LaSalle’s drawing of her own hand. This represents the “brush” surgeons use in their patients’ treatment.... [continued]

Artist: Riva Lehrer
Medium: Black and white charcoal drawing

“This work is a portrait of singer Nomy Lamm, a Washington state artist who has focused much of her work around issues of body images, sexuality, and disability.... [continued]

Artist: David Leibowitz
Medium: Photography

To visually express what happened to his damaged tendon, Leibowitz decided to create this bold image of his foot after surgery, buried in a soccer ball.... [continued]

Artist: Margaret Leininger
Medium: Hand-embroidered cotton

Leininger’s current body of work references specific microscopic patterns found in plants and animals. Creating highly detailed embroidered compositions that are hand stitched, she uses threads to blend and mix colors, which allow her to build and alter the surface of the fabrics.... [continued]

Artist: Alan M. Levine , MD
Medium: Mohair bear doll with hand-blown glass

This handcrafted English mohair “Scolibear” comes with hand-blown glass eyes and an internal instrumented spine. It also includes a digital image of the actual x-ray taken of the bear.... [continued]

Artist: Michael S. Lewis , MD
Medium: Photography

“Victims of land mines come from their villages to this rehabilitation center in Siem Riep, Cambodia. Within two weeks of their arrival, they are fitted for a prosthesis and learn to use it.... [continued]

Artist: Michael S. Lewis , MD
Medium: Photography

“The Chinese custom of binding women’s feet, which existed for a thousand years, was outlawed early in the 20th century. When this woman was a child, her feet were deliberately broken and deformed so that she would be unable to work.... [continued]

Artist: William Loscher , MD
Medium: Graphite

“An elderly woman’s hands depict a silent cry for the doctor’s understanding of her strong desire to remain independent. Many times the hands tell a greater story than the face.... [continued]

Artist: William Loscher , MD
Medium: Graphite

This piece fosters a greater appreciation for doctors who volunteer their time and expertise to help their fellow man while working under extremely difficult conditions as tragedy occurs in various events in the world.... [continued]

Artist: Vladimir Loukin
Medium: Acrylic on canvas

After recently undergoing further surgery on his leg in Houston, Texas, Loukin’s art show at a local gallery was wildly successful and generated thousands of dollars in income to help defray the cost of his medical expenses.... [continued]

Artist: Vladimir Loukin
Medium: Acrylic on canvas

After recently undergoing further surgery on his leg in Houston, Texas, Loukin’s art show at a local gallery was wildly successful and generated thousands of dollars in income to help defray the cost of his medical expenses.... [continued]

Artist: Vladimir Loukin
Medium: Acrylic on canvas

After recently undergoing further surgery on his leg in Houston, Texas, Loukin’s art show at a local gallery was wildly successful and generated thousands of dollars in income to help defray the cost of his medical expenses.... [continued]

Artist: Vladimir Loukin
Medium: Acrylic on canvas

After recently undergoing further surgery on his leg in Houston, Texas, Loukin’s art show at a local gallery was wildly successful and generated thousands of dollars in income to help defray the cost of his medical expenses.... [continued]

Artist: Amanda Love
Medium: Mixed media: crayon and photography

Love’s artwork takes us through her hospitalization process. In a series of colorful vignettes, she expresses how she felt prior to her operation: “I knew I was going to be straight and not all twisted up.... [continued]

Artist: Jay Mabrey , MD
Medium: Digital illustration

Anna is Dr. Mabrey’s personal trainer, a patient, a daughter of one of his bilateral total knee patients, and a test subject for a three-dimensional body rendering for Baylor University’s Motion and Sports Performance Lab.... [continued]

Artist: Robert MacArthur , MD
Medium: Bronze

Ballet Calliente is the third sculpture in the three-part Ugly Duckling series created by Dr. MacArthur. The series follows the patient as she progresses into a professional ballet dancer.... [continued]

Artist: Octavia J. Mackey
Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Inspired by an extremely visual dream, Mackey has fashioned a dramatic stylized visualization of an incomplete hand. As art often imitates life, Mackey’s nocturnal vision was actually a reflection of her own situation.... [continued]

Artist: Maggie Mae
Medium: Mixed media

This art piece shows an x-ray surrounded by hospital photos taken a week after the artist’s accident. The writings of affirmation placed throughout the artwork relate to Mae’s belief in the power of prayer and positive thinking.... [continued]

Artist: Alexandra Martin
Medium: Bonded aluminum

This monumental work represents the anger and frustration felt by Martin over her decreasing mobility. In her vision, Fist: A Self Portrait is a dramatic representation of the frustration many arthritis sufferers and those with other orthopaedic conditions live with on a daily basis.... [continued]

Artist: Ario Mashayekhi
Medium: Acrylic on canvas

“I often am impressed to hear about or witness people who have struggled to transcend the physical and mental pain committed on them through the violence of war, human rights violations, natural disasters, or illness carry on with their lives.... [continued]

Artist: Ario Mashayekhi
Medium: Pen and ink, watercolor

“Thanks to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and Walter Reed Medical Center (WRMC), I got the opportunity to observe and do some sketches of a surgery.... [continued]

Artist: Ario Mashayekhi
Medium: Graphite

“Thanks to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and Walter Reed Medical Center, I got the opportunity to observe and do some sketches of a surgery performed on a wounded soldier.... [continued]

Artist: Ario Mashayekhi
Medium: Pen and ink

“During the Iran-Iraq war, many soldiers from both countries lost their lives due to explosions and battlefield conflicts. Some soldiers returned only as body parts.... [continued]

Artist: Ario Mashayekhi
Medium: Army boot, sand and found objects

“One of the agonies of war, beside loss of life, destruction, and the burden of debt placed on the citizens of the countries involved, is the situation of the returned soldiers.... [continued]

Artist: Rebekah May
Medium: Reeves BFK with Sharpies

This selection of drawings reflects the artist’s feelings about loss, grief, coping, hope, strength, determination, and spirituality. It also depicts many of the procedures that May underwent – including MRIs, facet blocks, facet injections, and nerve ablation.... [continued]

Artist: Rebekah May
Medium: Stoneware, metal, cement with stains, and pipe cleaners

Personal Velvet is the last sculpture that May created prior to her back injury in 2005. “The piece uses the spine to represent strength and vulnerability, and it distinguishes the physical interior from the exterior.... [continued]

Artist: Babette Mayor
Medium: 3-D artist's book

Concern over the high cost of prescription medicine inspired Mayor to create this ingenious 3-D book consisting of a series of decorated boxes that fit into each other.... [continued]

Artist: James McCarthy , MD
Medium: Computer-altered photograph

“This photograph of a patient shows the resolve of children, and their ability to, sometimes effortlessly, rise above their illness and our treatment.... [continued]

Artist: Julia McDonald
Medium: Paper collage on canvas, acrylic

This dynamic collaboration of bright colors and stark images boldly represents the aspects and history of the artist’s orthopaedic condition by showing the start and subsequent milestones in her journey and anticipated recovery.... [continued]

Artist: Richard McKay , MD
Medium: Photography

Ortho-Tex, the horse, is the work of an orthopaedist’s wife, Alice Hyde. Hyde incorporated a total knee, hip, an orthopaedic tree, and patterns in the shape of Texas into the design.... [continued]

Artist: Suzanne Kurek Merrell
Medium: Monotype print and printed x-ray film

The vertical direction of this piece replicates the direction of vertebrae in the spine. It was created by placing original x-rays in a printing press and using color to change and shape the rendition of the artist’s spinal injury.... [continued]

Artist: Ted Meyer
Medium: Oil on canvas

This painting, with its cubist and layered imaging, shows the interconnection between all parts of the body. It is an illustration of the artist’s interpretation of bilateral hip replacement and joint disease.... [continued]

Artist: Ted Meyer
Medium: Oil on canvas

“Pain is the basis for the existence of the human body,” says Meyer. His Structural Abnormalities series was initially created in the months before his first round of hip replacements.... [continued]

Artist: Malcom Meyn , MD
Medium: Oil on canvas

In Dr. Meyn’s view, orthopaedic implants have a beauty and symmetry of their own. In this work, Dr. Meyn has captured the abstract grandeur of the implant as a work of art instead of a utilitarian device to aid in walking.... [continued]

Artist: Jay Montgomery
Medium: Digital art

“The top half of this illustration depicts the old carnage way of performing orthopaedic surgery with simple fixation. This is in stark contrast to the future of orthopaedic research and the development encompassing the use of new ‘smart’ shape memory mini-implants, which replace rods, nails, screws, and wires.... [continued]

Artist: Burt Moritz IV , MD
Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Dr. Moritz has deftly captured an idyllic day on the ocean through the use of bold, primary colors. A relaxing image of a lazy canoe juxtaposed with the impending swell of the incoming wave elegantly reflects upon an earlier, more carefree time in his life.... [continued]

Artist: Daniel Murchison
Medium: Wood

Murchison likes to think that he is not creating art, because art already exists, but he is just isolating its beauty. He enjoyed hand-carving this goblet.... [continued]

Artist: Augustus Nazzaro
Medium: Linoblock print in oil on paper

This two block linoleum print is a depiction of a scenario all too familiar to anyone who has had a loved one go in for major surgery. Nazzaro has captured the feeling of anxiety compounded by the seemingly never-ending minutes of waiting outside the operating room.... [continued]

Artist: Kim Newell
Medium: Mixed media

The centerpiece of the sculpture is a plaster leg and foot made by using a boot as a mold. Newell’s original design, a pile of heavy useless plaster legs, eventually evolved into this final version, one leg being pulled in different directions.... [continued]

Artist: Edwin Njoroge
Medium: Colored pencil drawing

These drawings depict the healing transformation Njoroge went through during his treatment in the hospital. Each segment shows a different step in the process.... [continued]

Artist: Alaa Osman
Medium: Markers on paper

Osman drew this picture using markers and white copy paper while waiting to be seen by her orthopaedic surgeon in the clinic. Her work was inspired by a picture of a sunflower that hangs on the wall in the clinic room.... [continued]

Artist: Ronald and Jill Parisi
Medium: Color photography

The primary purpose of the Parisi’s work is to illustrate that a person with a disability can be attractive, whole, and worthwhile. People with disabilities do not deserve to be victims of prejudice and discrimination.... [continued]

Artist: Robert Parow
Medium: Wood carving

Parow has designed and fashioned a leg bone cane from a piece of maple. To give it the appearance of bone he applied a single coat of white satin latex paint to the surface.... [continued]

Artist: Liza Pflughoft
Medium: Mixed media, including tissue paper, acrylic paint, pen, and Xerox images

Taking a page from her deconstruction book, which has basically become Pflughoft’s personal diary in dealing with her surgery, she shares her feelings with the viewer.... [continued]

Artist: I. Carmen Quintana
Medium: Iris print

An artistic study of demarcations between surveillance and surveying, this computer-generated work is an attempt to visually appraise a given physical condition in order to monitor both obvious and subtle structural and muscular changes.... [continued]

Artist: Andrew Reach
Medium: Digital painting: archival Epson pigment print on Somerset velvet paper

“This is a continuation of my exploration of mindfulness and how it can plumb deep emotions out of the subconscious. In this work, abstract vertebral forms float in a liquid matrix.... [continued]