Art for Healing

New Paintings by Dana M. McCutcheon and a mixed media installation by Pam Bolton and Cindy Cleary

McCutcheon is a Berkeley-based painter who has been represented by Hang Gallery in San Francisco since 1999. His abstract oil and acrylic paintings -- featuring both vibrant, bold brushstrokes and tranquil color fields -- combine spontaneous experimentation with practiced methods. McCutcheon’s work is included in numerous corporate and private collections in North America, Australia, Asia and Europe.

McCutcheon is happy for this opportunity to show his work in his own hometown, and at Alta Bates in particular. About this show, he said, “In our visits to the hospital, we, the general public, experience some of our deepest and most profound emotions. Lives begin and end, are saved and changed. It is a privilege to hang paintings in such an environment. If a painting improves the experience of one hospital guest, the painting itself becomes better for the experience.”

Cleary and Bolton are North Bay installation artists who have worked collaboratively for the past six years using natural materials as an opening to the stories and mysteries that touch our deepest sense of knowing. Their work has been shown at various venues throughout the Bay area, including, SOMARTS Cultural Center, Southern Exposure, Dance Mission Theater and in various public locations in San Francisco and Sonoma County.

About this installation, which features four assemblages created specifically for Alta Bates, Cleary and Bolton say, “With it we celebrate our connections to the essential elements of all life: earth, water, fire and air, in this place where birth and death, pain and relief are met and tended. Our hope is that these small meditations provide a momentary place of refuge for memories, for feelings and for healing.”