MOCA: Art with a Heart in Healthcare: Daydreamers

MOCA Jacksonville continues its partnership with Art with a Heart in Healthcare (AWAHIH), a nonprofit organization that provides personalized art experiences to support the healing process for patients and families at local hospitals. Through the years, the program has developed different themes to encourage the patients to express themselves creatively, helping them to articulate their feelings, ideas, and experience through art. Imagining themselves in a myriad of ways, from majestic creatures to mighty warriors, this year’s Wolfson Children’s Hospital patients answered the question: Where does your mind wander when you daydream?

Heal

Art with a Heart in Healthcare establishes an environment that recognizes the value of creativity and aesthetic experience for patients, families, healthcare providers, and visitors.

child posing with their artwork, smiling and posing with arm up as though they are flying

Abbie, age 11, Flying Through the Sky

child smiling and posing with their artwork, which features a football field

Aiden, age 11, Football Daydream

child smiling and posing with their artwork, which features bright patterned paper

Baylee, age 9, The Colorful Sunset

child smiling and posing with their artwork, which features paper mache

Chiara, age 12, Stir-fry-a-saurus

a teen works on a painting while enjoying snacks

Darrious, age 16, Gemini Philosophy

a teen smiling and posing with their artwork, which features a painted blue gradient

Emmalee, age 17, Nighttime on MOCA Island

a teen smiling and posing with their artwork, which has Japanese imagery

Ethan, age 16, Master Samurai’s Dream

painting featuring a mask, mountain, cherry blossoms, and paper cranes

Ethan, age 16, Master Samurai’s Dream

a child works on a painting that is inspired by legos

Ethan, age 8, Sonic's World

Create

The program is an innovative way to respond to the stress associated with hospitalization, and it provides a means of interaction and enjoyment, a sense of meaningful connection with others.

a teen smiling and posing with their artwork, which has trees and clouds

Fatima, age 13, Be One with Nature

painting featuring a mask and butterflies over a blue sky with fluffy clouds

Fatima, age 13, Be One with Nature

a teen smiling and posing with their artwork, their hands covered in paint

Immanuel, age 13, Dragon King

child smiling and posing with their artwork, which features a blue mask

Jamiyan, age 11, The Mask Over Space

Kacey, age 14, Mr. Fizz’s Happy Town

Kaelyn, age 16, Watch out, Newton!

painting featuring a mask wearing goggles surrounded by scientists and scientific gear

a teen smiling and posing with their artwork, which is a mask that looks like a lion

Kayla, age 13, The Brave Lion

painting featuring a mask that looks like a lion with a paper mane

Kayla, age 13, The Brave Lion

Grow

AWAHIH creates an opportunity for participants to share who they are as a whole person rather than one who is defined by diagnosis, age, or disability.