Jill Hotchkiss

Sponder Gallery is pleased to share that the work of gallery artist Jill Hotchkiss is now on view at UCI Health in Irvine, California. Four works on paper are now part of the hospitals collection that encompases over 300 commissioned artworks.

Where Art Supports Healing

“A good picture is equivalent to a good deed,” Vincent Van Gogh said. If that’s true, three new buildings at UCI Health — Irvine are providing expansive benefits through their thoughtfully curated art collection.

Research is clear about art’s ability to reduce stress, enhance moods and lessen symptoms of chronic disease. So what better canvas for calming motifs than a hospital designed and built with the goal of improving the health and well-being of those who enter?

“When we set out to build the UCI Health — Irvine complex, we wanted an arts program that leverages the amazing artist community across OC and California as an integral part of the early design and part of the healing environment itself,” says Chad Lefteris, president and CEO of UCI Health.

With 300 commissioned pieces and 1,300 reproductions, the highly local display was a considerable undertaking that took about two years. James Irvine Swinden, former president of The Irvine Museum and son of Joan Irvine Smith, a longtime UC Irvine supporter, was tapped to chair a selection committee of nearly a dozen people, including local artists, design experts, philanthropists and other UCI Health co-workers.

How Nature’s Architecture Guides This Delray Beach Artist’s Practice

In her Delray Beach studio, artist Jill Hotchkiss emulates geological processes to create material-intensive works that examine recurring backgrounds in nature, such as branch-like patterns seen in the architecture of trees, water tributaries, lightning and even human vascular nervous systems.

Despite our best efforts, nature never remains neat and tidy in South Florida. This is, after all, the land of lightning, weaving waterways and vast tree roots cracking through concrete. Yet whether formed by root tendrils or electric bolts, these forces all seem to follow a recurring web-like pattern. This secret architecture underscoring the natural world proves intriguing for Delray Beach artist Jill Hotchkiss. “It’s like a sacred geometry, representing the bonds that exist between all life forms,” she says of this mysterious pattern depicted in her ink drawings, carved wood reliefs, drywall sculptures and oxidized copper panels.