ABC12 – Art work featuring Weimaraner dogs officially unveiled at Hurley Medical Center

ABC12 — April 18, 2018

FLINT (WJRT) – (4/18/18) – Hurley Medical Center is hoping to comfort some of their patients with art work you’ll only see at Hurley.

ABC12 was there for the ribbon cutting of an art installation and talked to the artist behind the lens about its potential impact.

“We are constantly looking for what else we can do outside of the medicine to help these kids,” said Hurley Foundation president Mike Burnett.

22 photographs of Weimaraners now adorn the walls in the waiting room, along a corridor and by the elevators of the burn unit. Each one thoughtfully styled by Bill Wegman who has decades of experience and is known best for showcasing his Weimaraner dogs over a span of five generations.

Nonprofit organization RxArt has worked with Hurley for the better part of two years to make the project a reality.

“A long time ago I wanted to reach a larger audience. When I first started thinking about it, after art school in the 60s, I never thought that I would find it with a dog,” Wegman said. “A wonderful place for these to end up, so I’m very happy and I hope people like them.”

Wegman photographed some puppies and dogs, a lot of them his own pets. They are perched on cubes or wearing raincoats and some are even sitting in Eames chairs.

“Before they’re eight weeks, when they’re like five weeks, their eyes are very blue, and they’re just different when they’re very little,” he said.

Nurse manager Jeff Overman says the burn unit saw just under 400 patients last year and about 15-20% of them are children.

“Burns can be very difficult…with burns…because the pain, the pain tolerance and the dressings that we have to do, so having something that provides a distraction for the pediatric patients is really a positive for the nurses and the patients,” Overman said.

“It’s really impossible not to smile and feel better when you look at it,” said RxArt founder Diane Brown. “He’s one of the most significant artists working today. His work is in collections worldwide.”

Along with the photos, patients and visitors can whip out their phones and watch a selection of videos created with Wegman’s Weimaraners over the last 50 years.