About Us
“After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in esthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest scientists are artists as well.” – Albert Einstein
The Annual CUIMC Fine Art Exhibition is one of a kind and it is one of the largest fine art exhibitions on the medical campus. This tradition has taken place on the medical campus since 1951. The mission of this wonderful cause is to unite and bring together the diverse Columbia community members from different professional fields and make everyone feel welcome. The purpose of the Annual CUIMC Fine Art Exhibition is to act as a bridge between science, medicine and the fine art because we believe that art helps people reveal and develop higher levels of empathy, tolerance, wisdom, and emotional intelligence. These skills are especially important for people who work in the medical field.
For 70 years, since the foundation of this exhibition, honorary and respected deans and faculty have been sitting on the art committee and were steady contributors of art for this art show. One of our long-time art contributors since the 1980’s warmly remembers times when the exhibition was led by Dr. Donald Tapley, Dean of P&S from 1973-1984. Following Dr. Tapley’s legacy, our exhibition grew and thrived.
In 2010, the current form of the art show was revived by Dr. Robert Sideli, Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics at CUIMC; and CUIMC Chief Information Officer, and one of his medical students Dr. Nicholas Colacchio, VP&S ’12. Until 2018, Dr. Sideli was the curator and organized the art show.
Since March of 2018, current graduate student Irina Kulichenkova, GSAS ‘18 curates and organize the annual exhibition, in partnership with Dr. David V. Forrest, P&S ’64, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, CUIMC and Mirela N. Trofin, BC ‘79 TC ’90, Director and Controller, Department of Medicine, CUIMC. Since then, our art team is honored to continue this amazing tradition and legacy and the Columbia art community has thrived.
Throughout all these years various members of Columbia’s faculty, such as Nobel laureates, deans, directors of various programs, students, staff, and their family members participated and supported this art show with their artwork.
The Hammer library space has become a welcoming, dignified, and humanized area for students to study and interact. Every year, we accept about 250 art submissions and both levels of the Hammer Library are filled with beautiful and inspirational artwork. Every year our exhibition displays numerous artworks of more than 50 children and their physicians from the Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation Department. We hope that by participating in the art show, it helps to cheer these children up, while they are going through difficult times.
Furthermore, this incredible tradition helps people from different professional fields to connect and network with each other and share the same interest of art. This exhibit is open to all members of the CUIMC, the Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University, and their family members. It is so inspiring to receive positive and sincere reviews from people that our exhibition influences and see how the Columbia art community is growing positively with joy and fellowship. This just confirms our belief that many people want this art show to be a continued success and that we are on the right path.
