About Brushes With Life

About Our Gallery

"Brushes with Life: Art, Artists, & Mental Illness" is a patient art gallery located on the third floor of the NC Neurosciences Hospital in the halls approaching the psychotic disorders inpatient unit.  The psychotic disorders inpatient unit is a part of the Schizophrenia Treatment and Evaluation Program (STEP), which provides inpatient and outpatient care for patients dealing with psychotic symptoms or illnesses such as schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.  The gallery features the artwork of former STEP inpatients, current STEP clinic outpatients, and clients from Club Nova, a local (Carrboro) clubhouse for the mentally ill. 

Exhibitions typically change every 6 - 9 months. Our 12th exhibition was installed in September 2008. More than 125 patient-artists have displayed their artwork in the permanent gallery. The initial goal of the STEP Art Gallery was to give our patients a permanent space to display their creativity to a wider audience. In addition to promoting art and healing, we also aim to lessen the stigma associated with mental illness by demonstrating that people with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder can be creative and productive. Our exhibits brighten the hallways around the STEP inpatient unit and make the unit more appealing and less sombre for patients, staff, friends, and families.

Current Gallery Committee Co-Chairs are Karen Graham, MD, Tana Hartman, MA, Paula Mayence, RN, and Julie Pace MS OTR/L.

Gallery History

The idea for a gallery was born in the spring of 2000. Wen Crenshaw, a recreational therapist on staff at UNC, had the original idea for the gallery and was the first Chair of the Gallery Committee. The earliest members of the committee primarily represented the staff of the Psychotic Disorders Unit. The committee also included representatives from Recreational Therapy, Medicine, Nursing, Interior Design, Occupational Therapy, Social Work, and the Department of Psychiatry's Office of External Relations, as well as one of the gallery's artists. Work was soon underway to establish a permanent art gallery on the third floor of NC Neurosciences Hospital and the first exhibition was installed in December 2000.

With the investment of many staff and volunteer hours, along with the guidance and enthusiastic support of Dr. Nancy Clayton, an attending on the Inpatient Unit, and Paula Mayence, RN, the committee celebrated the gallery's opening with a reception for the artists and invited guests on January 9, 2001.

The initial installation of permanent frames and lighting was funded by UNC Hospitals' Facilities Enhancement Committee, which continues today to support gallery exhibitions by providing professional assistance with hanging the displays and by maintaining the gallery spaces on the third floor.

In addition to our permanent gallery, we also have a traveling exhibition. The idea of a traveling exhibit began as a way to introduce our patients' artwork to the world beyond UNC Hospitals and as a way to provide education about mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression. Smaller exhibits have traveled to local churches in Chapel Hill (winter 2002 and fall 2003), to Arts United in Lexington (May - June 2002), and other venues around the region. A larger exhibit was displayed at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) from October 2002 to May 2003. The RDU exhibition included, for the first time, educational posters about mental illness and about the gallery. 

Next, we collaborated with the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) in Raleigh for over a year to bring to the museum an exhibition of the works of 20 artists. We also worked with the NCMA to provide studio art classes for our patient-artists in May and October 2003 in the hope of inspiring them to create new works for this larger exhibition. The NCMA exhibition ran from April through mid-August 2004 and on May 8, 2004, an opening reception at the NCMA was attended by some 300 people. The exhibition subsequently traveled to various art centers around North Carolina in 2005.

Also in 2005, the STEP Art Gallery was honored with a Lilly Reintegration Award for Mental Health Advocacy. 

In 2008, Brushes With Life, a documentary by STEP artist and videographer Philip Brubaker, which features eight fellow artists with mental illness who strive for recognition as creative talents in a society that often stigmatizes and/or dismisses them.  The film previewed at the Carrboro Century Center in October 2008 and in November, the film was honored with a festive premiere and exhibition of gallery works at the FedEx Global Education Center on the UNC campus.

In January and February 2009, the film was shown at other local venues and was submitted to the 2009 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Brushes With Life is expected to air later this year on WUNC-TV (PBS). 

More recently, Philip Brubaker has won a 2009 Lilly Reintegration Award for Artistic Contribution and his film was nominated for a 2009 SAMHSA Voice Award. The Voice Awards, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services, recognize television and film writers and producers "who have given voice to people with mental health problems by incorporating dignified, respectful, and accurate portrayals . . . in their scripts, programs, and productions." For more information, visit the SAMHSA website at http://whatadifference.samhsa.gov/voiceawards/about.html.

In January 2009, we witnessed another extraordinary event. Our Voices: First Person Accounts of Schizophrenia, a book conceived, written, and edited by five remarkable individuals with one thing in common: they know firsthand what it means to live with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. The book shares the personal perspectives of people with schizophrenia, and seeks to show that although schizophrenia is a life-long illness, recovery is possible. The voices of the book’s title are those of 20 persons with schizophrenia who answered 65 questions about living with severe mental illness. The book tells what it’s like to be diagnosed with a major mental illness, to live with the symptoms, and to navigate the mental health care system. It illuminates the shared perceptions, experiences and challenges faced by people with schizophrenia. 

Colette Corr, Michael Dunne, Manisha Kapil, Claudia Moon, and Pickens Miller wrote and edited Our Voices with the support and encouragement of two clinical social workers, Bebe Smith, MSW, LCSW, and Jenny Edwards, LCSW. The five author-editors describe themselves in a foreword to the book as individuals “who have weathered the worst part of their illness, have put their lives back together, and have really started to succeed again." Our Voices is published by iUniverse and is available at http://www.iuniverse.com/ or from any online bookseller. All proceeds from sales of the book support patient-led projects of the Schizophrenia Treatment and Evaluation Program. 

Note Cards

The art gallery now offers notecards bearing colorful images by four talented STEP artists.  Holiday or seasonal cards are in the planning stage.  For information or to purchase cards, email or phone Tana Hartman, 919.843.7971. 

Hours and Contact Information

The Brushes With Life Art Gallery is free and open to the public each day and evening during regular visiting hours. For times, call the UNC Hospitals' operator at 919.966.4131. 

For directions to the NC Neurosciences Hospital, click here. Our gallery, once again, is located on the third floor of the NC Neurosciences Hospital in the hallways leading to the STEP Inpatient Unit.

Many of the works displayed in our gallery are for sale. For more information about purchasing art from our gallery, please email Tana Hartman or phone 919.843.7971.

To reach a member of the gallery committee by email, contact stepart@med.unc.edu; by telephone, call (919) 843-7971.