In 2011, the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) awarded a $10K Public Art Grant to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and AVA Gallery and Art Center for the creation of a public art master plan at DHMC.

The image here features Silhouettes, the first public art project realized as part of Inside&Out.

The sculpture Silhouettes has its own inspiring story. AVA and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth are partners in Art for Kids, a program where children with chronic medical conditions make art with second year medical students, benefitting each in delightful ways.

Artist Jeffrey Sass worked with Art for Kids, tracing the children’s bodies and transferring the outlines to aluminum cut outs, which the children then painted.

DHMC originally sited the sculptures outside the window of the chemotherapy room, providing patients a vista on playful artworks while they received their treatments. The sculptures are now located at the entrance to DHMC’s covered parking garage.