OUR FOUNDER AND HISTORY
Diane Brown
Founder and President
Early in 2000, I found myself dressed in a hospital gown with an IV in my arm, going into a CT scan, feeling totally vulnerable and afraid. My only escape was through my imagination, and I instinctively summoned an artwork to occupy my thoughts. I imagined an installation by Matthew Ritchie going up the wall to my left and across the ceiling. I entered into Ritchie’s complex iconography, and only when the test was over, did I realize how art had helped me through this difficult experience.
Waiting for the technicians to remove the IV and help me off the table, I knew I wanted to help others “get out of the hospital,” if even for just a few minutes. Having spent the majority of my adult life working in the visual arts up to that point, I embarked on a mission to spread the healing power of art, and RxART was born.
About Diane
RxART Founder and President Diane Brown has forged a professional path that draws equally from her experience as a pre-med student at the University of Wisconsin and from her career as a gallerist, art dealer, and curator. She owned and operated the Diane Brown Gallery in Washington D.C. between 1976-1982 and in New York City between 1983-1992. The gallery played host to some of the most significant artists of the time, exhibiting work by Louise Lawler, Allan McCollum, and Tony Oursler. Brown was also instrumental in launching careers of Mary Weatherford and Steve Wolfe, among others. After closing the gallery in 1992, Brown worked as a private dealer, the curator of a major corporate photography collection, and as an adjunct professor of arts administration at New York University. She founded RxART in 2000 and RxART Canada in 2015.
WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO
Hear Diane Brown speak about how the patient experience at St. Mary’s Hospital for Children in Queens, NY was improved following the completion of a major project with artist Dan Colen. The transformation of a large activity center into a colorful and jubilant communal space helps inspire happiness and smiles in the young patients.
25 YEARS OF RxART
2000 - RxART incorporates as a 501(c)(3)
After a scary CT scan, Diane Brown founds RxART, drawing on both her pre-med education from the University of Wisconsin and her career as a New York-based gallerist and art dealer.
2006 - First site-specific hospital project
Encouraged by Dr. Harold Koplewicz, RxART installs the organization's first site-specific installations at the NYU Child Study Center featuring artists avaf, Ryan McGinness,
and others.
2010 - First hospital project outside of New York State
RxART site-specific installations increase in complexity and reach with CT scanner transformation by artist Jeff Koons at Advocate Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn, IL.
2016 - Transformative gift received
The Gerard B. Lambert Foundation donates $1 million in honor of Eliza Moore, who helped create RxART.
2002 - The first RxART hospital project
The first RxART hospital project is a trial run at Rockefeller University Hospital in New York City, made possible by Dr. Barry Coller, the hospital's Physician-in-Chief and Vice President for Medical Affairs, and featuring work by Mel Bochner, Mel Chin, Louise Nevelson, and others.
"We at Rockefeller University Hospital are very proud that we were the first site RxART chose to partner with in the display of art to enhance the hospital's environment for patients and staff. The superb artworks selected by Diane Brown have transformed our environment, providing visual stimulation and engagement."
- Dr. Barry Coller
2006 - First RxART coloring book
RxART publishes volume 1 of Between the Lines and establishes a program to donate coloring books to hospitals across the nation.
2015 - RxART Canada is established
A site-specific installation by artist Julia Dault at The Hospital for Sick Children Toronto, ON is completed in 2019.
