Healing Arts: Physician's assistant make sculptures that visualize strength, reduce stress
Tuesday, October 7, 2008 3:47 PM PDT
By Cathy Zimmerman
Printable version
E-mail this articleJeff Jolly has developed a new tool for working with patients: metaphor. The Longview physician’s assistant finds that the sculptures he makes in his off hours can have a healing effect on people who are sick.
“Many of my patients say, ‘Why am I having this problem? “ he said. “ ‘Why is God doing this to me at this point in my life?’ “
Their angst led Jolly to sculpt a work showing cupped hands with a bonsai tree growing out of them.
“The bonsai is most beautiful and strongest when it’s twisted to its limit,” he said. “You don’t choose those stressors, but by coming out of it, you have grace and beauty you would not otherwise have. ...
“Look at this this way: A woman after a mastectomy has not lost her beauty -- she is strong because she went through that. Arthritic hands have been through a lot, and dealt with it.” Jolly said he is drawn to carvings of hands because “all your experiences in life come out through your fingertips.”
He calls his bonsai and hands “Prayer Rock.” His first work to be cast in bronze, it was recently “juried” (selected by judges) into a show called “Best and Brightest” at the Scottsdale Artists’ School in Arizona.
The 14-inch high sculpture will be on display from Oct. 16 through Nov. 18 at the school, where Jolly has taken sculpting classes. He plans to make a limited number of the bronze work, which has already struck a chord with patients who have seen it.
“I showed it to a lady whose father just died of cancer,” he said. “She and her whole family are going through a lot of stress. One of the nice parts about sculpture is that it gives people a visual for what is being said — ‘Yes, I feel that way. That is me!’ ”
How stress triggers sickness
Jolly, husband of Dr. Cynthia Jolly and father of their two sons, works in a Family Practice group at St. John Medical Center.
“I spend a lot of time talking to patients about holistic stress reduction,” Jolly said. Holistic refers to a wide spectrum of experiences — nature, art, exercise, music, relaxation techniques and spiritual practices — that can strengthen the immune system. “This is good medicine, because it gives us the ability to fight off disease. ...
“There are a lot of patients who think they cope well, but 10 years later it comes back on them. They have been pushing a ball under water, and they out a lot of energy into doing that. All of sudden there’s a big splash.
“When you finally let go of it — the splash — more energy is available to you.”
How bronze sculptures come to life
Four different artists are involved in a finished bronze, Jolly explained: the carver, the mold maker, the person who welds the pieces together, and the patina artist, who applies chemicals that cause bronze to change color.
First, Jolly carves his work in an oil-based clay, which stays soft rather than getting baked in a kiln.
Mold makers in Portland “take this piece and make a mold of it,” and in this case, more than one, because of the complexity of the design.
From the molds, they make wax versions of the pieces, then cover them with a slurry. In an oven, the slurry hardens into a shell, or casting, while the wax melts out.
Now bronze is poured into the castings. Finally, the cast is shattered, the bronze pieces are soldered together, and the completed bronze statue is colored by the patina artist.
Sculptors can keep their original clay work and make more bronzes, but they often make only a limited number to increase the value of the finished pieces, and that is something Jolly plans to do.
To market, to market
Jolly has made art that didn’t sell. He carved smooth boomerangs out of curly maple and affixed them, in pairs, to plaques. One boomerang is etched with positive words like love, sharing and giving, and the other with negative behaviors like greed and hate.
It’s based on the philosophy that whatever you do comes back to you,” Jolly said, but the philosophical works didn’t attract any buyers.
He hopes Prayer Rock is different. At $3,600, he said it could be an entry-level purchase for novice collectors, equally attractive — and healthy — in a home or medical office.
Where art and health come together
“The best art gives you emotional connection,” Jolly said. Prayer Rock illustrates that “no part of you is an island; it’s all connected.” It’s not just what happens to you that shapes you, but your relationships with your doctor or family, or the messages you internalize from belief systems or works of art that touch you.
Looking at a work like Prayer Rock can stir feelings and insights, but Jolly said all our senses play a role. “I have watched as people have reached out and run their finger along the trunk of my sculpture,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s to create a physical connection, to gain strength like you would from a friend, or just for luck.
“But there is a calm that goes along with it. I truly believe that connecting with that core emotional state is art at it’s best.”
He has a new idea in the works, a piece that will blend our maritime culture with sound, adding yet another sense to his toolbox of interactive properties.
Patients aren’t the only ones who experience the healing properties of art, he added. The artist himself is affected by how he works and what he works with.
“I sit here at night, and I use my skills as a physician’s assistant to look at body mechanics, how the sculpture should be made. ... Clay is a natural element. It’s part of the earth. But it’s much more forgiving than wood. If you don’t like it, you can change it. It doesn’t matter if you screw up.”
That makes it more forgiving than the practice of medicine, too. Jolly said his nights in his workroom are “the biggest stress reducers I have. I see immediate results. And I get feedback from people. Is it good or ugly? The emotional attachment with people is what drives it for me ....
“There’s a saying, ‘Life is short, art is long.’ My goal is that 300 years from now, someone will look at my piece and be moved by it.”
For questions and inquiries please e-mail Jeff Jolly at info@jeffjollysculpture.com
grams wrote on Oct 7, 2008 1:22 PM:
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