Episode 16: Art and Medicine
How Diagnosis of a Chronic Illness Led a Museum Director to Create a Global Network of Hospitals and Museums to Train the Next Generation of Mindful Physicians
Bonnie Pitman
Distinguished Scholar in Residence for The Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History
Director Art-Brain Innovations, Center for BrainHealth
Creator of Do Something New™
After her untimely retirement from her career as the director of the Dallas Museum of Art, Bonnie set her sights on bringing arts education to the field of medicine. After countless visits to clinics to diagnose her respiratory illness, she noticed a pattern among doctors examining her. They spent their time focusing on her chart but not her. Having spent her life teaching people about art she set about to design a curriculum that would teach doctors to examine the patient holistically. She started by bringing students from UT Southwestern Medical Center to the Dallas Museum of Art and training them how to look at works of fine and decorative art, from Neo-gothic bed frames to Congolese power figures, she gave doctors the tools to approach their patients mindfully.
In our conversation, we talk about her childhood visiting the studios of Robert Motherwell and Hans Hofmann, her career in museums, her Do Something NEW™ practice and her trailblazing work with art and medicine.
Participants in a teaching demonstration that is led by medical and museum educators inspecting an Umberto Boccioni sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art. Credit: Manuel Martagon
In 2016 she organized The Art of Examination: Art Museum and Medical School Partnerships, a symposium with 135 professionals from art museums and medical schools throughout the country that convened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The Forum facilitated an expansive conversation among art museums and medical school programs about the development of programs and pedagogy that use works of art and close looking to strengthen diagnostic skills such as observation, description, interpretation, empathy, communication, and collaboration.
The Art of Examination is a preclinical elective course open to first- and second-year medical students at UT Southwestern Medical School. It is taught primarily at the Dallas Museum of Art, with sessions at UT Southwestern Clements Hospital, The Nasher Sculpture Center, and The Warehouse. This innovative and interactive course uses museum collections to explore ways of looking at works of art through close examination, description, and empathy.
Do Something NEW™
On July 8, 2011, two and a half years after being diagnosed with a respiratory infection she began a daily ritual that transformed into her Do Something New™ practice. With 1440 minutes in a day, Bonnie ensures each day is full of stimulation and joy despite the struggles of dealing with her chronic illness. In her words, it’s “a celebration of each day to do something I have not done before.” Whether it’s visiting a new place, meeting a new person, or trying a new flavor of ice cream, it must be something new and can’t involve anything work or medical-related and cannot carry forward to the next day. She photographs these experiences and shares them on her Instagram profile @bonniepitman.
In 2012 she started workshops and lectures on Do Something New™ to support groups for patients and caregivers dealing with chronic illness. Her partnership with the UT Center for Brain Health has evolved from lectures to scientific studies.
Credit: Brandon Thibodeaux
Bonnie Pitman joined The University of Texas at Dallas as Distinguished Scholar in Residence in 2012 to research and develop partnerships between UT Dallas and cultural and health-related institutions. She serves in the Office of the Provost, The Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History, The Center for BrainHealth, and The School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication (ATEC).
The former Director of The Dallas Museum of Art, she is a national leader in education and the public engagement of art. Pitman has been a curator, educator, and administrator at the University of California’s Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives, Seattle Art Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery, and the Bay Area Discovery Museum.
Pitman’s work with The Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History focuses on Art and Medicine and The Power of Observation™. Pitman teaches a seminar for the UT Dallas Honors College in Observation using the framework she has developed, The Power of Observation™, that introduces neuroscience of seeing and develops new skills for seeking and processing information to make new connections and to retain ideas and observations. She also teaches a UT Southwestern Medical School class that develops close observation of works of art to enhance the diagnostic skills needed for medical practice.
In 2016, she organized a national convening of Art Museums and Medical Schools at The Museum of Modern Art, NYC and launched a website with resources for the art and medical fields through the O'Donnell Institute.
Recently published articles in The Journal of American Medicine, The New York Times, San Antonio Medicine, and Dallas Morning News highlight her work.
As Director of Art-Brain Innovations at the UT Dallas Center for BrainHealth, Pitman expands her research and teaching of the art of observation, meditation, and compassion. Her Power of Observation™ initiative connects neurological research with the experience and process of seeing, looking, and observing. Through her daily practice to "Do Something New", she invites the exploration and celebration of making an ordinary day extraordinary while dealing with chronic illness.
Publications include the Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, 2012 and Ignite the Power of Art: Advancing Visitor Engagement in Museum, 2010. In addition to numerous articles, she was the editor of Presence of Mind: Museums and the Spirit of Learning and Excellence and Equity: Education and Public Dimension of Museums, the latter a signature work that altered the perceived role of museums in society.
She is a member of the Advisory Board for the SMU National Center for Arts Research in the Meadows School for the Arts and Cox Business School and on the Board of the Baylor Health Care Foundation in Dallas, TX.
Additional Press:
“Chronic Illness Cost This Former Dallas Museum Director Her Career. Embracing Novelty Gave Her New Life.” - Texas Monthly
“How an Aesthete’s Eye Can Help a Doctor’s Hand” - New York Times
Recorded December 16, 2020.
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