Arts in Heathcare Archive
In 2007, a visual art and poetry exhibit titled "Beyond Katrina" was developed by residents of shelters in Central Louisiana after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina and toured widely under the auspices of Central Louisiana Arts and Healthcare. AGAR sponsored the exhibit at University of Virginia Health Systems Hospital in collaboration with the University of Virginia Health Systems Hospital Art Committee. Exhibit took place in hallway gallery outside surgery waiting room in hospital where we estimate it was seen by an audience of 15,000.
Black Herman - The World's Greatest Magician
Last February, Lynn Kable was presenting a work about the plight of refugees as a result of recent Middle Eastern conflicts, and was collaborating with an old friend, Nihad Kreseljakovic from Sarajevo. She asked him to write an introduction about his experiences of living in Sarajevo during the siege in the 1990’s. He did, and in the letter he wrote said, verbatim, in part: But... I remember we went to theatre...Yes, we went to theatre risking our lifes [sic]... And remembering that, I can say how art and culture are basic human need [sic] just as food, as water as air...... That was magic which helped us to survive, and to remain humans. That was the real magic IMPRESSIVE AS things Black Herman did remaining remembered as the most prominent African American of his time... Kable went looking for a “Black Herman,” associated with Amherst Virginia, finding no one immediately who remembered him in Amherst. Kable, who is Director of Amherst Glebe Arts Response, Inc. (AGAR) was fascinated. |
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The Amherst County Museum and Historical Society library found one page about his life. WIKIPEDIA had an entry that confirmed Benjamin Rucker, whose stage name was Black Herman, was a famous Black magician, born in Amherst, who traveled the USA in the early years of the 20th century and became a prominent citizen in Harlem, New York City. Lynn Rainville, PhD, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of Tusculum Institute at Sweet Briar College, found census records from 1880 to 1910 that mentioned Benjamin Rucker and his family. Sandra Esposito, an historian and member of the AGAR advisory board, found old newspaper stories about his professional and personal life. Lynn Kable researched the history of Magic, and in particular BlackHerman’s Magic. The Amherst Museum agreed to co-present with Amherst Glebe Arts Response, Inc. (AGAR) an event about Black Herman on March 18, 2018 at 2:30 pm.
AGAR still had not found any descendants, and Kable was getting frustrated. She sat at home one evening when the phone rang. “I hear you are doing a program about my great, great uncle” said Rev. Kelvin Brown, former police chief of Amherst and Pastor at Mount Olive Baptist Church. “You really ought to talk to my Dad and his brother!” A video interview by Lynn and Ned Kable with Charles “Skippy” Brown, owner of Charlie’s Chicken in Amherst and his brother Carl “Buddy” Brown, and a walking tour of the Town of Amherst with the Browns, filled in many gaps in AGAR’s knowledge about Black Herman and his family, the Ruckers. Several older residents of Amherst, notably Paul Wailes and Jackie Beidler, remember Herman’s sister, Juanita, who ran a famous bed and breakfast, luncheonette and laundry service in town. Melodie Fletcher, a member of the AGAR board of directors, is preparing a PowerPoint about the history of Black Herman. Melodie’s daughter, Morgan, who lives in Harlem now, has now gone searching for detailed information on Benjamin “Black Herman” Rucker’s New York history at the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research arm of the New York Public Library. Kelvin Brown remembers teaching some of “Black Herman’s” tricks to his sons when they were young. Skippy and Buddy Brown know some of his illusions, too. Teacher Linda Zabloski and the Drama Club of Amherst Middle School are learning some of the illusions to help teach them to members of the audience when AGAR presents the results of our research at The Amherst County Historical Museum. If you would like to learn more about Black Herman and his local history, fascinating, life and magic tricks, please join AGAR and the Amherst County Historical Museum for a free event at: “Black Herman: Famed Magician from Amherst County, Virginia” THE HAMBLE CENTER of Amherst County Museum 154 South Main Street, Amherst, VA 24521 2:30 pm on March 18, 2018 The program will be repeated at CENTRA/ Fairmont Crossing in Amherst on March 19th for residents, staff and visitors. |
In 2012 Shizuka Morishita of Tanpopo-No-Ye Foundation in Nara City, Japan was invited to attend a conference at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Ms. Morishita, who is a longtime colleague in arts in healthcare, or as they call it in Japan, “Art Meets Care” asked Lynn Kable if she could arrange for translators for her for the conference, and for some visits to healthcare facilities in the United States while she was here.
Lynn Spoke with her friend and colleague Professor Fumiko Radile to see how they could arrange for translators, and Professor Radile was able to help through the assistance of two wonderful women, Mikiko and Momoko, whom she was able to contact through the Japanese/American Care Fund.
Lynn arranged, thanks to Ermyn King, a colleague from the Global Alliance for Arts and Health (formerly the Society for the Arts in Healthcare) visits in Washington, DC to the new National Intrepid Center of Excellence (for treatment of Wounded Warriors with Traumatic Brain Injury), and to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. We were able to visit the very impressive art therapy and service dog programs.
Lynn Spoke with her friend and colleague Professor Fumiko Radile to see how they could arrange for translators, and Professor Radile was able to help through the assistance of two wonderful women, Mikiko and Momoko, whom she was able to contact through the Japanese/American Care Fund.
Lynn arranged, thanks to Ermyn King, a colleague from the Global Alliance for Arts and Health (formerly the Society for the Arts in Healthcare) visits in Washington, DC to the new National Intrepid Center of Excellence (for treatment of Wounded Warriors with Traumatic Brain Injury), and to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. We were able to visit the very impressive art therapy and service dog programs.
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In 2005, before the formal incorporation of Amherst Glebe Arts Response, Inc., Lynn Kable worked with Rebecca Massie Lane of Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, VA, to design a project through which Lynn Kable , Donna Meeks, Groundskeeper and Garden Designer of Sweet Briar and Frances Butler, longest service Hospice Volunteer went to Japan to do a collaborative project on use of horticulture and gardens in healthcare settings in the USA and Japan. The U.S. representatives spoke at forums in Osaka and Sendai, and visited hospital gardens and horticultural programs in various parts of Japan including, Kansai Rosai Hospital, Osaka; Osaka Prefecture Medical Center for Respiratory and Allergic Diseases, Osaka; Suwa Chuo (Central) Hospital, Nagano; Miyagi Cancer Center Palliative Care Unit, Sendai; Miyagi Children’s Hospital, Sendai, and Honami No Sato Clinic, Furukawa-City.
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 Miyagi Cancer Center Palliative Care Unit – Bon Odori Festival |
