A unique art-on-loan program between Cornish College of the Arts and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center was unveiled this summer. A total of eighty–eight works of art — paintings, prints, drawings, photographs and sculpture — were selected from Cornish’s graduating class of 2005 to be exhibited in the Fred Hutchinson Arnold Building through June 2006.
This unique program was developed in collaboration with Cornish Art department faculty member Bonnie Biggs and the Fred Hutch Art Task Force, co-chaired by epidemiologist Dr. Alan Kristal, and administrator Georgia Green. “One of the striking things about this new partnership is how we came to appreciate the similarities between our two worlds,” says Biggs. “For artists and scientists, creativity plays a primary role in how we think and work,” explains Biggs. “Both artists and scientists have unusual powers of observation, an instinctive curiosity about the world, an impetus to find ‘answers’ and the ability to actualize their findings.”
As part of their long range planning, the Fred Hutch Art Task Force intends to establish an annual art-on-loan-program with Cornish. “Not only has the fresh, energetic artwork created by the young artists enhanced our physical work space,” says Dr. Alan Kristal, “we have also benefited from the wonderful relationships that have developed between Cornish faculty and graduates and Hutchinson Center faculty and staff.”
