CPMC Employees, Friends Pose for “Flying” Portraits Dr. Herbert Pardes, vice president and dean, poses for doctor-turned-artist Wilma Siegel. Members of the Columbia-Presbyterian community volunteered to pose for portraits that will be attached to kites and flown in the Energy Court next summer. The portraits were created by retired oncologist and hospice physician Dr. Wilma B. Siegel. Conceived by Dr. Sandra Gold of the Gold Foundation, this event has been coordinated by her and the Office of External Relations’ community affairs department. “This is our attempt to create the hospital family,” said Dr. Gold. “It will give energy to the Energy Court.” Dr. Gold first encountered Dr. Siegel’s artwork at the University of Miami and was taken by its positive energy. The portraits Dr. Gold saw were from a series Dr. Siegel created by painting survivors of breast and prostate cancers. After leaving a successful career in medicine, which included establishing one of the first hospices in New York, Dr. Siegel pursued a lifelong interest in becoming an artist. “To be a good one, you have to do what you know,” she says. That philosophy led her to painting portraits of the seriously ill. She has brought her trade to senior citizen homes, AIDS clinics, and cancer wards. Dr. Siegel explains the value of painting the elderly and the sick: “Spending time with them and painting their portraits made them feel good about themselves.” The focus of Dr. Siegel’s art was slightly altered for her visit to Columbia-Presbyterian. Dr. Gold thought it would be interesting to portray those who are devoted to helping the ill. That is why the Energy Court will feature the faces of the Medical Center’s employees, from administrative aides to department heads, from doctors to deans, including Dean Herbert Pardes, vice president of Health Sciences. “This has been a refreshing exercise for me,” Dr. Siegel says. “The people I have met and painted are so vibrant and energetic. I just want to thank the Gold Foundation and Columbia-Presbyterian for the opportunity.” |R