The Big Canoe Experts Series will feature Big Canoe residents with special expertise, knowledge, or even hobbies, and will run during the summer months. The next speaker will be John Feight discussing the Foundation for Hospital Art, Inc.: Work for Ukraine, scheduled on Saturday, August 19, from 10 am to noon. Because of the hands-on nature of this presentation, it will be held in Cousins Hall, Big Canoe Chapel.
Feight will explain how art can give comfort and love to those in care facilities and how the public can be part of the Foundations for Hospital Art’s mission to paint a brighter world. The presentation will illustrate how over a million people around the world have painted more than 50,000 paintings for installation in approximately 7,500 care facilities.
Following the presentation, the audience will be invited to paint the “Ukraine Peace Dove” for hospitals in Ukraine.
Due to the extraordinary needs of Ukrainian civilians and military alike, attendees are encouraged to donate extra medical supplies they have at home (no drugs or liquids), and to donate to help cover art supplies and shipping costs to Ukraine. Typical items that are needed include Band-aids, Gauze, Suture kits, Staple kits, ACE wraps, Neosporin, and Waterproof pads. The medical supplies will be packed between the canvases for shipment.
After painting for ten years at night and on weekends, John Feight started The Foundation for Hospital Art as a non-profit publicly supported foundation in 1984. The Foundation has been dedicated to softening the hospital environment with colorful paintings, wall murals and ceiling tiles.
John Feight was born in Millersburg, Ohio, in 1940. His youth was spent in Killbuck, Ohio and Sarasota, Florida. After graduating from the University of Florida in 1963 with a degree in advertising, he worked for BBDO and DKG (advertising agencies) in New York City before moving to Atlanta to work on the Fresca (Coca-Cola) account with the Marshalk Agency. After working at Burton Campbell and starting Feight & White Advertising, John moved to the corporate side by joining Scientific-Atlanta in 1976.
He started painting without lessons in 1965 while working in New York City. He copied a Christmas card for his first painting.
He had one-man shows in Georgia and Oklahoma City prior to his first show in Paris in 1974. While in Paris, John thought of his grandfather’s work as a country doctor. He was inspired by his grandfather’s commitment to helping others…by never putting limits on his dreams as a doctor…by taking care of those who couldn’t pay for their medical care.
After returning from Paris, John volunteered at Northside Hospital in Atlanta with the desire to simply help those who were ill. He discovered patients were surrounded by blank, cold walls and came to the realization that art could do more…that art could give comfort, love, and hope to those who need it the most – to patients, families and the medical staffs of hospitals and nursing homes.
John is the Founder of The Foundation for Hospital Art, Inc, a non-profit organization he started in 1984. The Foundation’s mission is to give comfort and hope to patients, families, medical staffs, and visitors by providing artwork to care facilities around the world. The Foundation’s vision is to make hospitals our most beautiful places for healing.
Expert Series programs are free, and open to the community without prior registration. For further information, contact Cal Johnson, 404-373-0748