Second group of high school students share their creative flair
Three students from West Albany High School are the latest young area artists to spruce up an exam room in The Corvallis Clinic’s Pediatrics Department, making it three rooms of Dr. Christy Rivers to be so adorned.
Freedom Summit, Marissa Moore and Melayna Henderson – all going into their senior year – painted a mural in a room that is currently used by Dr. Rivers, who has endeavored to use fresh local talent to make her exam areas more visually appealing to her young patients (see Mural Medicine: CV students volunteer their creativity to make pediatrician’s exam room more welcoming). A staffer from The Corvallis Clinic also recently brightened a room with a mural. See story below.
The room in which the West Albany students created their mural eventually will be used by Dr. Galena Kolchugina (kol-CHOO-gina), a newly hired pediatrician at The Corvallis Clinic who will begin seeing patients in late August.
“We came up with the space theme,” Freedom said, “because not only is space something that would be cool to paint, but it was also something we thought kids would like.” To recruit such capable students such as Freedom, Marissa and Melayna, Dr. Rivers has reached out to high school art teachers. These three students were chosen by West Albany art teacher Casi Brown.
Freedom said she found out she enjoyed doing art when she started painting in middle school, though she is unsure if she wants to pursue it as a career. Marissa has a website of the artwork she has done in an Advanced Placement class as does Melayna.
“Painting this mural was a great opportunity for us,” Freedom said. “It showed what we could do with art outside of a classroom.”
Clinic Pediatric staffer produces a “Forest” image
Jennifer Clemens, a medical office specialist in Pediatrics, painted a “Wonders of the Forest” mural. She said she sketched several ideas, and this was the theme most people liked best. “I also thought this theme offers a lot of details that would allow the minds of the kids or parents wander – in a good way – while they’re in the exam room,” she said. “I think it’s a calming scene, but also engaging as it celebrates nature with some fantastical elements.”
Jennifer, who has worked at The Clinic for two years, has never taken a formal art class. “I’ve painted off and on most of my life, but never too seriously.” This is her first mural.
