Art Exhibit Highlights Custodial Health Care Workers’ Compassion

From now until September 4, 2022, the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, is featuring “Healing and the Art of Compassion (and the Lack Thereof!),” and in the temporary exhibit, one particular piece serves as a tribute to health care workers, including the important role of custodians.

Three wooden statues, hand-carved and painted by artist Arthur Lopez, depict women within hospital professions: a doctor, a nurse, and a cleaning woman who holds a mop in one hand and bottle of bleach in the other. Behind their heads, each woman sports a spectacular halo, signifying a saintly compassion for those they serve.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lopez began to carve images of such “saints”—statues of essential workers who worked in health care during outbreak. In creating his three-dimensional carvings, Lopez employs art processes that have been used in New Mexico since the 1700s. His paints are all handmade using natural pigments. 2022 marks his 22nd year as an artist using these ancient methods.

To view the artwork and learn more about the exhibit, visit the American Visionary Art Museum website.