Worth the Wait: Nurse Enters Two Paintings in Exhibit at Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital

Just about a year ago, Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital Emergency Department nurse Roselle Talag came across a brochure about the National ArtsProgram® exhibit being run by Adventist Midwest Health.

Still applying for a nursing position with the organization at the time, the Woodridge resident was sorry to hear she could not exhibit in the show, since it was only open to hospital employees. But following her hiring, she remembered the exhibit.

“I’ve been waiting for the announcement on this year’s National Arts Program, and it just so happens that it will take place at Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital,” Talag said. “It just makes me even more excited, since I’m working at the hospital now.”

Talag has entered two acrylic paintings in this year’s second annual exhibit, which will open Nov. 6 and remain on display at Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital, 500 Remington Blvd. in Bolingbrook, until Jan. 5, 2014. Her husband has also entered two photography pieces.

It’s the first time either of them have been exhibited anywhere. So far, she hasn’t told her co-workers, excited to hold a little secret about her participation.

“The fact that I have shared something that’s a part of me, the painting that I’m doing … it makes me happy already,” she said.

As it did last year, the National Arts Program has provided $2,400 for prizes, and this year added another $1,000 grant to assist with exhibit costs, said Sue Kett, who heads Adventist Midwest Health’s Healing Arts Program.

“We are so thrilled with the National Arts Program’s generous support of our exhibit,” Kett said. “Because of them, we can display so many fine works by our employees and their families, as well as our hospital volunteers.”

For this year’s exhibit, a reception and awards presentation will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Nov. 6 at Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital. Prizes will be awarded in three adult artist categories – amateur, intermediate and professional artists – as well as youth and teen artists. There will also be a Best of Show awarded.

While the show is in Bolingbrook, it is open to all employees across Adventist Midwest Health. Elvyna Walker, a medical secretary in the Donor Center at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital, is participating for the second year.

Last year, the Bolingbrook resident entered paintings. This year, she has decided to submit two wood burning pictures.

“I got a wood-burning kit when I was a kid for Christmas years ago,” Walker said. “It’s something that I play around with every once in a while.”

Walker is glad the exhibit has returned. It gives the hospital’s artists not only an opportunity to display their own works, but to appreciate the works submitted by co-workers.

“I’ve worked here for 25 years, and you see people displaying things you had no idea they could do,” she said. “It helps build a kind of a community and it makes people bond a little better.”

More on the National Arts Program exhibit can be found at www.keepingyouwell.com.