| Tape
Art has found a home in the health care system. It can empower,
envigorate and distract without depleting a patient's energy.
Patients are afforded a unique opportunity to actively personalize
their living spaces and animate their environment with tape
drawings. The process is inclusive and often hands-on, a mini-collaborative
effort that engages patients and their family of supporters. |
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 General Practice - The Tape
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Tape
Art Artist Tape is a simple technical breakthrough that makes
drawing on walls possible. The tape itself is crepe-paper based
with a special low-adhesive glue on the back that makes it ideal
for hospitals. Artist Tape can be safely applied and removed
from any surface - from painted wood and plasterboard to glass and
concrete. The no fuss, no mess qualities of Artist Tape allows
total freedom to create. These characteristics enable us to work
in areas that are usually off-limits, such as intensive care units
and isolation wards. These spaces are particularly suited to a Tape
Art energy injection by giving patients something positive to focus
on without expending too much of their own valuable energy. With
the development of 'Murals-on-Request', we have extended
the benefits of art making to patients who have not got the stamina
to participate hands-on. |
How it Happens
The
following are variations of the Tape Art experience for patients of all
states of wellness.
Bed-bound patients
We create "Murals-on-Request" , providing a physical extension to a patient's imagination by drawing
out their ideas on their behalf:
Heroines painting.
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For
the not-so-readily-engaged patient
We
draw something of our own design which, more often than not, becomes
a collaboration as the patient is drawn in from watching the Tape
Art evolve and become more active. Taking ownership of the drawing
by suggesting ideas and guiding its development, the patient often
finds that they are excited despite themselves. The process either
involves a lot of dialogue as we work together with the patient
to create exactly what they imagine, or we work intuitively, responding
to the patient's energy levels and moods. An immediately interactive
option is usually anything involving portraits. These portraits
are often drawn directly from the patient or from descriptions of
absent friends and family. |
Very young, very ill, or absent-at-surgery patients
We work in consultation
with the family and nursing staff to create something based on what
they imagine the patient will like. In this scenario, the family
benefits as they are given an opportunity to create on behalf of
their loved one. |
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Methodology Some
thoughts about why Tape Art works in a hospital setting:
Drawing is a quiet, therapeutic and centering activity and even the
simple observation of drawing tends to relax a room and calm people's
energy levels. People genuinely love watching other people draw and
it is especially engaging when the images are directed and evolved by
the patient.
As non-medical professionals, artists are often perceived as individuals
that are not there to DO anything TO the patient, but rather offer an
open-ended opportunity. This can go a long way toward creating a quick
rapport with most patients.
Tape Art quietly empowers patients by enabling them to personalize their
surroundings and gain ownership of their living space. The dialogue
of a Tape Art collaboration gives the patients a sense of power, control
and intimacy - all on their own terms. Directing the production of a
personalized Tape Art mural puts the patient in the driver's seat.
The process is often inclusive and hands-on. Because of the ease of
drawing Tape Art images, patients and their family of supporters will
oftentimes spontaneously create mini-collaborative murals.
One of the most common observations made about the effect of the Tape
Art murals is that the patient will use it as a jumping board for conversations,
often inviting people into THEIR space to see THEIR mural. This catalyst
for dialogue is often one of the greatest benefits of these temporary
blue drawings.
Tape Art is always
temporary, usually with a life span of a day. Even our largest public
murals only stay up for 24 hours. However, in hospitals we encourage
the patients' drawings to stay up as long as their stay. Removing the
tape prematurely in this setting can detract from its healing benefits.
The tape we use can
be wiped clean with disinfectant and has been allowed in isolation and
ICU wards.
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