Art, hospital a natural fit for Artist Exhibition Program
The current exhibit of the paintings of Gerald Stephan at Wooster Community Hospital includes two paintings that represent one of his current special interests — recreations of famous paintings. They are two of Stephan's paintings that will be exhibited as part of the hospital's Artist Exhibition Program.
Wooster Community Hospital's Artist Exhibition Program provides an opportunity for local artists to share their work with the hospital community and with the larger community.
"Art is healing, and given the hospital’s mission of healing, it seemed perfectly natural to bring those two things together," said Angela Rincon, the hospital's director of development.
Every artist who participates in the program is asked to donate one piece to help build the hospital's permanent art collection. "It is a wonderful way to show the hospital’s commitment and connection to the community," Rincon said.
Donated art is installed on the ground floors of the outpatient pavilion, the connecting corridor and the hospital main building. Accompanying each piece is an artist statement.
The current gallery exhibition features the work of local artist Gerald Stephan. "This is Gerald’s second show at WCH," Rincon said. "His first was in late 2019, and his exhibition was very well received. Gerald is a prolific painter, and his art is impressive. I had seen the many new paintings that Gerald had completed since his previous show and thought it would be a great time to have him come back."
Stephan's background is unusual for an artist. "The world of art is far from where I spent most of my life," he said.
Beginning as a journalist, he moved into the world of designing and developing computer systems. "For nearly 10 years, I was involved with military systems design before I moved into banking and managed bank operations for banks here in the U.S., Kuwait and New Zealand," Stephan said.
When he was 60, Stephan found himself going through a box of old photos when he found one of his parents happily seated in a newly purchased car. He thought how nice it would be to have a painting of the old, dusty picture.
"But I did not know how to find anyone who could do something like that," he said. "After I thought it over for a few days, I decided I would try myself. After all, it was in black and white. How hard could it be?"
Stephan gave it a try, and when the result was "not too bad," he felt encouraged and went on to try a few more photos. Then, he explained, "Life happened that really changed things for me."
A serious auto accident left him with short-term memory loss, migraine headaches, sleep issues and other things that made it impossible to continue working. "Forced to retire, I turned to painting to fill my time as this was something I could do in spite of my injury," he said. "It took seven years for a complete recovery."
Two years after he started painting, Stephan was represented by a gallery and making regular sales of his art. Soon two more galleries took on his paintings.
"During this period of about seven years, I also taught drawing and painting classes," Stephan said. "I will admit that I never attended an art class other than the ones I taught, but I believe I worked out an approach to drawing and painting that was successful and never disappointed any student of mine."
Describing his work as realism, Stephan has painted all sorts of subjects including still life, landscapes, seascapes, animals, people and more. Currently, his interest lies primarily in the human figure, including the portrait.
"I find this the most interesting and challenging," he said. "I am particularly interested in the emotional content of a painting, which is best achieved through the figurative painting.
"If this exhibit has a theme, it would be the human figure in many forms. There are portraits in a number of styles including two large black and white paintings of Patrick Stewart and Robert Mitchum. A number of the paintings in the exhibit can be purchased, and my cards there show my contact information."
Wooster Community Hospital Artist Exhibitions are held on the first floor of the Outpatient Pavilion — the hospital’s glass building on Beall Avenue. The building is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and after hours, visitors can access the gallery only through the hospital’s main entrance.