Seventeen canvases covered in blue, green, grey and red paint hang on the wall surrounded by colourful collages and shelves of art supplies. The paintings all depict a garden but feature their own flair — one shows a man fishing in a pond, another showcases red bubbles floating in the wind.
Created by patients at Victoria General Hospital, a Portage Place exhibit seeks to shine a light on the important relationship between art and mental health care.
In its third year, the Art in the Garden workshop is a partnership between Artbeat Studio, Stople Hope Fund and the Victoria Hospital Foundation.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Tracy Stople, with the Stople Hope Fund (left), and Sharmon Luchuck, communications and public relations manager at the Victoria Hospital Foundation, at the Art in the Garden exhibit on Monday, June 24, 2024.
“Art is so therapeutic and helps people … think about something else and (be) able to make it through one more day,” said Tracy Stople, owner of Stople Hope Fund. “It makes me feel really good that I’m able to support people that might be in a mental health crisis or need something for that day and they can spend a couple hours not thinking about their problems, but just enjoying themselves.”
Stople began the organization in 2009 to help those living with mental illness. Her mother, Jean Stople, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and would often take part in a group that created art in various mediums.
“I know how much she enjoyed art and how much it helped with her mental health,” Stople said. “She was always so proud. When I would visit her, she would show me what she did that day.”
Stople had one condition before helping fund Art in the Garden: she had to participate as well. The workshop has helped Stople build connections and confidence, she said. Her hope is to help others while being able to honour her late mother at the same time. Patients today are dealing with the same stigma around mental illness that her mom faced in the 1970s, she said.
“I just talk about it. I tell people my mom had schizophrenia. There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Stople said. “Let’s do what we can for people to make their lives a little better because they’re struggling. They need any kind of compassion we can give and they don’t need the stigma.”
Artbeat program coordinator James Dixon said he often sees Art in the Garden participants return during the open studio hours the organization hosts.
“Your brain may feel busy, you may be feeling stressed out. You may be feeling anxious, you may be feeling low,” Dixon said. “Art is a practice that can really bring you back and makes you feel better and … more confident about yourself.”
The fusion of art and the outdoors make the benefits even stronger, said Victoria Hospital Foundation communications and public relations manager Sharmon Luchuck. The hospital incorporates art into its decor as a way to help patients feel less anxious and make them feel seen in the space.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Sharmon Luchuck, communications and public relations manager at the Victoria Hospital Foundation (left), Tracy Stople, with the Stople Hope Fund, and James Dixon, program coordinator with Artbeat Studio inc. at the Art in the Garden exhibit on Monday, June 24, 2024.
“Artwork as a whole is really beneficial to people’s well-being and even if you don’t necessarily realize it, you might just be somehow feeling a little bit more at ease,” said Luchuck.
Those who have taken part in the event continue to sign up each year, she added. They have to cap the number of artists at 20 because of the limited space in the hospital garden, but haven’t had to turn anyone away.
Dixon said the program shows people that everyone is an artist.
The exhibit runs until July 7.
jura.mcilraith@freepress.mb.ca