Return
to the "POINTER VIEW"March 8, 2002
Return
to the "POINTER VIEW"
March
8, 2002
Story and photos by Jim Fox
Staff Writer
PaintFest came to this area for the third time March 1 when a small army of volunteers descended upon Keller Army Community Hospital to help brighten ceilings, walls and patients’ outlooks.
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| Community members (l to r) Spc. Jerry Moore, 1-69th; Spc. Kevin Gleich, 1-1; Pfc. Ryan King, 1-1; and Spc. John Wolfe, 1-1 were among the scores of painters at Keller Army Community Hospital March 1 donating time and talent to PaintFest. |
Scores of volunteers painted two huge wall murals at KACH -- along with eight ceiling tiles and four large murals on canvas -- courtesy of the Foundation for Hospital Art.
West Point community members joined forces with art students from Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, N.C. and Foundation for Hospital Art personnel for the event which lasted throughout the day.
Saturday, 50 cadets, a dozen volunteers and 20 patients tackled an even larger painting chore: adding color to 50 ceiling tiles and eight wall murals.
"Our fundamental belief is that art can bring comfort and love to people in hospitals," said Foundation for Hospital Art executive Director John Feight.
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| Dozens of painters tackled two huge wall paintings at KACH March 1. Here, Angi Johnson and Anne Lennox add vibrant color to the first floor hallway leading to the emergency room. |
Feight, and his wife Linda, are the proud parents of USMA grad Scott Feight (’91), an Army aviator who is currently deployed to Afghanistan. They, along with a widespread organization, helped spearhead the efforts that have led them to paint at military installations and hospitals around the world.
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"I believe in the whole concept of Camelot -- might for right," John said.
"With might needs to come kindness, because of the nature of people that we are. We believe in might, but with a soft hand.
"Our Foundation for Hospital Art adds the softness to something that needs to be hard. It is a real paradox," he added.
John explained that the program doesn’t just benefit the patients.
"On the surface you think we are just painting for the soldiers, but we are really painting for the families and the medical staff. Everybody associated with that context," he said.
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| Lenoir-Rhyne College art student Kathleen Winter and KACH patient Emily Schultz paint a ceiling tile. |
One family touched was the Schultz’s of Fort Campbell, Ky. Their daughter Emily, a high school junior, came to KACH for knee surgery.
Emily helped paint a ceiling tile and for a moment forgot about her own surgery.
John said West Point is becoming his base. He numbers five West Pointers among his ring of associates worldwide.
"I love the idea of the cadets, the young, soon-to-be future officers, painting with veterans in a VA hospital," he said.
He said the program helps those future officers make the connection about what it takes to be a leader.
"The connection needs to be there. They are not separate. They need to come together. We are here to bring people together," John said.
