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Two Drew University Professors Involved in Special Issue on Art for the Sake of Care

Merel Visse and Ryan Woodring among 30 featured artists and academics

November 2024 – Two Drew University professors were recently featured in a special issue on Art for the Sake of Care in the International Journal of Education & the Arts.

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Ryan Woodring’s Installation View Today and Possibly Tomorrow. 2022. 30 3D-printed candies in glass display case. Size variable. International Museum of Surgical Science. Chicago, IL. Photograph by Dan Miller.

Merel Visse, program director of the Medical & Health Humanities program, and Ryan Woodring, assistant professor of digital media, were among over 30 artists and academics from across the globe featured in the publication for their innovative and transformative work on care. 

The publication showcases creativity as a powerful force that drives meaningful change. The issue is a culmination of five years of collaboration in the Art & Care Platform Series, led by Visse and Elena Cologni, associate professor of contemporary art and critical practice at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England. 

In her editorial introduction, Visse introduces how contributors show us what the actual practicing of the arts for the sake of care may look like and may do, what more caring, care(full), and care-based spaces evoke in our world. Visse also co-contributed an article on care meaningfulness in craft occupations. Woodring contributed an article about his work on invisible illness and the arts. 

“We highlighted the meaning of creativity and the arts for care, and how they assist us in creating spaces for mutuality and belonging within and outside healthcare,” said Visse. “Think about care for nature, classrooms, and schools. Our authors, all artists-academics, share stories from hospital wards, residential care homes, classrooms, and community centers, highlighting the role of creativity and artistic innovation in promoting caring spaces.”

Drawing on his experiences as an artist, scholar, and individual living with an undiagnosed illness, Woodring’s work offers care strategies beyond diagnosis; illuminating principles of arts education such as defamiliarization and appropriation as meaningful tools for synthesizing soft data and reorienting a person’s relationship with an otherwise un/der-diagnosed condition. Woodring also serves as a dissertation advisor in the Medical & Health Humanities program.

“Drew’s Medical & Health Humanities program looks beyond the surface of medicine, health, well-being and care, preparing students to advocate and utilize the transformative power of the humanities and the arts in healthcare,” said Visse. “We explore the human side of medicine and care through a unique blend of disciplines, including ethics, arts, literary studies, care studies, sociology, public health, and more.” 

The International Journal of Education and the Arts is co-founded by renowned art educator Liora Bresler, who taught in Drew’s Medical & Health Humanities program in spring 2024.

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