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Category: Visual Arts

Thinking Through Making

Kelly Rishe, MSOT, OTR/L September 16, 2025

As this author poured through the data from a study of 30 stroke survivors, she found she “couldn’t move past the emotion present in the text.” The study sought to understand factors affecting success in an OT program. But the words of the interviewees went far deeper. To attempt to fully understand their realities, she turned to her own creative core—quilting—and translated black-and-white data points into the living colors of individual emotions.

The Power of Touch: Trust

Brandon Ness, PT, DPT, PhD September 16, 2024

Seeking to illustrate the nuances of physical touch in PT practice, Brandon Ness, DPT program faculty member and artist, created an image to inspire discussion among his students about trust and healing. His account of that process—creating and refining the image, going through a Visible Thinking exercise with his students—shows how art can inspire fresh critical thinking.

My Journey Using Art as Physical Therapy

Babs McDonald, PhD May 8, 2020

Babs McDonald describes her journey toward recovery from an ischemic stroke through painting and sketching. Through numerous examples of her artwork, she details her experiences pushing through impairment to create images chronicling her life. Based on her success, she advocates for the use of fine art techniques to foster upper limb movement in stroke survivors. Creating her art, she says, has taught her that “there are no failures in my recovery, only new challenges.”

Dynamic Autonomy in Chronic Pain Management: Frida Kahlo Illustrates

Debra Gorman-Badar, PT, MA May 8, 2020

As today’s healthcare professionals struggle to address the challenges of chronic-pain management, Debra Gorman-Badar argues that current multidisciplinary programs are missing a crucial component: an updated conception of patient autonomy. She details how expressive therapies help patients integrate their chronic-pain experiences into their lives and promote healing self-knowledge—as Frida Kahlo did through her remarkable paintings.

Art Informing Interdisciplinary Care for a Veteran Recovering from Traumatic Brain Injury: A Case Study

Gayla Elliott M.A., A.T.R. & Mason E. Heibel, EOD, CPT, fmr November 13, 2019

This poignant case study, featuring impressive art created by a military veteran with traumatic brain injury and comorbidities, expresses the power of Art Therapy to heal profound physical and psychological wounds. “The veteran’s art increased his self-awareness while informing the clinical team of his ongoing experience,” Gayla Elliott notes. His art and his words make a compelling case for adding art to the rehabilitation process.

Historical Perspectives in Art: The Value of Art History in a Pandemic: Teaching as a Healing Force

Siobhan M. Conaty, PhD November 12, 2019

In this powerful reflection, Siobhan Conaty shows how art history as a health humanities discipline can provide two uniquely different (yet equally important) teaching methods for students reckoning with a health crisis. One negative (a critical reading of graphic pandemic images) and one positive (looking to art as a powerful healing instrument), each serves an important purpose. Conaty details the positive approach she recently chose for her students — emphasizing art as a healing force.

War Photography: The Physical and Psychological Costs

Anthony Feinstein MPhil, PhD, FRCP May 2, 2017

Exploring the lives and careers of 12 extraordinary war photographers, Anthony Feinstein, PhD, underscores the grave danger these visual historians encounter when covering conflict and raises our awareness of the individuals behind the camera, who risk their lives to bear witness to violence and suffering.

Art Saved My Life

Bill Forester & Cindy Clark, OT/L & Susan Linder, PT, DPT, MHS, NCS & By Emma Goldberg, DPT, MPH Candidate November 30, 2016

Bill Forester reflects on re-discovering himself after suffering a massive hemorrhagic stroke. Realizing that he would not be returning to work, Bill and his family devoted their time to his rehabilitation, embarking on an ambitious path of trial and error and the ultimate discovery of painting as a medium for rehabilitation.

Visual Design: Exploring Data Visualization in Neuroimaging

Michael Borich, PT, DPT, PhD July 8, 2015

In this visual arts piece, Dr. Michael Borich’s image of the structural architecture of brain fiber pathways is more than a compelling visual display of a diffusion tensor imaging technique. He uses data visualization to underscore the importance of understanding and appreciating visual design as we seek to adequately try to portray and convey complex analyses and multi-dimensional information.

About Visual Arts Submissions

Erin Elisabeth Hecht January 20, 2015

Visual arts submissions may be submitted in several different genres, including photos, videos, original painting or artwork. For example, photo or video submissions may include

Thinking Through Making

As this author poured through the data from a study of 30 stroke survivors, she found she “couldn’t move past the emotion present in the text.” The study sought to understand factors affecting success in an OT program. But the words of the interviewees went far deeper. To attempt to fully understand their realities, she turned to her own creative core—quilting—and translated black-and-white data points into the living colors of individual emotions.

Kelly Rishe, MSOT, OTR/L September 16, 2025

The Power of Touch: Trust

Seeking to illustrate the nuances of physical touch in PT practice, Brandon Ness, DPT program faculty member and artist, created an image to inspire discussion among his students about trust and healing. His account of that process—creating and refining the image, going through a Visible Thinking exercise with his students—shows how art can inspire fresh critical thinking.

Brandon Ness, PT, DPT, PhD September 16, 2024

My Journey Using Art as Physical Therapy

Babs McDonald describes her journey toward recovery from an ischemic stroke through painting and sketching. Through numerous examples of her artwork, she details her experiences pushing through impairment to create images chronicling her life. Based on her success, she advocates for the use of fine art techniques to foster upper limb movement in stroke survivors. Creating her art, she says, has taught her that “there are no failures in my recovery, only new challenges.”

Babs McDonald, PhD May 8, 2020

Dynamic Autonomy in Chronic Pain Management: Frida Kahlo Illustrates

As today’s healthcare professionals struggle to address the challenges of chronic-pain management, Debra Gorman-Badar argues that current multidisciplinary programs are missing a crucial component: an updated conception of patient autonomy. She details how expressive therapies help patients integrate their chronic-pain experiences into their lives and promote healing self-knowledge—as Frida Kahlo did through her remarkable paintings.

Debra Gorman-Badar, PT, MA May 8, 2020

Art Informing Interdisciplinary Care for a Veteran Recovering from Traumatic Brain Injury: A Case Study

This poignant case study, featuring impressive art created by a military veteran with traumatic brain injury and comorbidities, expresses the power of Art Therapy to heal profound physical and psychological wounds. “The veteran’s art increased his self-awareness while informing the clinical team of his ongoing experience,” Gayla Elliott notes. His art and his words make a compelling case for adding art to the rehabilitation process.

Gayla Elliott M.A., A.T.R. & Mason E. Heibel, EOD, CPT, fmr November 13, 2019