AURORA | They pored over their designs, working carefully to match tasteful dresses and tops with complementary colors and designs.
Grace Petroff, 12, and Elizabeth Blue-Norton, 14, sat at stools on opposite sides of a table June 20 set up in a gallery at the Denver Art Museum, each carefully plotting designs for an original outfit with colored pencils and markers. The pair were early arrivals to the special event that saw patients from the Children’s Hospital Colorado exploring a new exhibit, a visit that came as part of a new, formal partnership between the hospital and the museum.
Bella Hicks (right), 6, kisses her boyfriend Addison Kleinhens (left), 8, after the two strutted down the runway Wednesday morning, June 20 at the Denver Art Museum. Oncology patients from the Childrenâs Hospital Colorado visited the Denver Art Museum to check out the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit and mingle with local fashion designers. The joint activity is part of a new partnership between the museum and the hospital designed to âharness the powerâ of art for treatment. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Bella Hicks (right) 6, poses for pictures with her boyfriend Addison Kleinhens (left) 8, after the two strutted down the runway Wednesday morning, June 20 at the Denver Art Museum. Oncology patients from the Childrenâs Hospital Colorado visited the Denver Art Museum to check out the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit and mingle with local fashion designers. The joint activity is part of a new partnership between the museum and the hospital designed to âharness the powerâ of art for treatment. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Bella Hicks (right), 6, gets dolled up for the runway, Wednesday morning, June 20 at the Denver Art Museum. Oncology patients from the Childrenâs Hospital Colorado visited the Denver Art Museum to check out the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit and mingle with local fashion designers. The joint activity is part of a new partnership between the museum and the hospital designed to âharness the powerâ of art for treatment. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Addison Kleinhens (left), 8, and Bella Hicks (right), 6, walk into the Fashion Studio hand-in-hand Wednesday morning, June 20 at the Denver Art Museum. Oncology patients from the Childrenâs Hospital Colorado visited the Denver Art Museum to check out the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit and mingle with local fashion designers. The joint activity is part of a new partnership between the museum and the hospital designed to âharness the powerâ of art for treatment. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Addison Kleinhens (right), 8, hugs his girlfriend Bella Hicks (left), 6, Wednesday morning, June 20 at the Denver Art Museum. Oncology patients from the Childrenâs Hospital Colorado visited the Denver Art Museum to check out the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit and mingle with local fashion designers. The joint activity is part of a new partnership between the museum and the hospital designed to âharness the powerâ of art for treatment. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Bella Hicks (left), 6, shows her loose tooth to her boyfriend Addison Kleinhens (right), 8, Wednesday morning, June 20 at the Denver Art Museum. Oncology patients from the Childrenâs Hospital Colorado visited the Denver Art Museum to check out the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit and mingle with local fashion designers. The joint activity is part of a new partnership between the museum and the hospital designed to âharness the powerâ of art for treatment. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Addison Kleinhens, 8, hugs his girlfriend Bella Hicks, 6, after patiently waiting for her arrival Wednesday morning, June 20 at the Denver Art Museum. Oncology patients from the Childrenâs Hospital Colorado visited the Denver Art Museum to check out the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit and mingle with local fashion designers. The joint activity is part of a new partnership between the museum and the hospital designed to âharness the powerâ of art for treatment. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Addison Kleinhens, 8, hugs his girlfriend Bella Hicks, 6, after patiently waiting for her arrival Wednesday morning, June 20 at the Denver Art Museum. Oncology patients from the Childrenâs Hospital Colorado visited the Denver Art Museum to check out the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit and mingle with local fashion designers. The joint activity is part of a new partnership between the museum and the hospital designed to âharness the powerâ of art for treatment. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Addison Kleinhens, 8, patiently waits for his girlfriend before viewing the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit Wednesday morning, June 20 at the Denver Art Museum. Oncology patients from the Childrenâs Hospital Colorado visited the Denver Art Museum to check out the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit and mingle with local fashion designers. The joint activity is part of a new partnership between the museum and the hospital designed to âharness the powerâ of art for treatment. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Molly Wilson, 4, shows off her creation to her grandmother Connie Berninzoni Wednesday morning, June 20 at the Denver Art Museum. Oncology patients from the Childrenâs Hospital Colorado visited the Denver Art Museum to check out the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit and mingle with local fashion designers. The joint activity is part of a new partnership between the museum and the hospital designed to âharness the powerâ of art for treatment. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Elizabeth Blue-Norton (right) and traces fashionable forms Wednesday morning, June 20 at the Denver Art Museum. Oncology patients from the Childrenâs Hospital Colorado visited the Denver Art Museum to check out the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit and mingle with local fashion designers. The joint activity is part of a new partnership between the museum and the hospital designed to âharness the powerâ of art for treatment. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Elizabeth Blue-Norton traces fashionable forms Wednesday morning, June 20 at the Denver Art Museum. Oncology patients from the Childrenâs Hospital Colorado visited the Denver Art Museum to check out the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit and mingle with local fashion designers. The joint activity is part of a new partnership between the museum and the hospital designed to âharness the powerâ of art for treatment. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Elizabeth Blue-Norton (right) traces fashionable forms Wednesday morning, June 20 at the Denver Art Museum. Oncology patients from the Childrenâs Hospital Colorado visited the Denver Art Museum to check out the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit and mingle with local fashion designers. The joint activity is part of a new partnership between the museum and the hospital designed to âharness the powerâ of art for treatment. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Elizabeth Blue-Norton (right) looks for a form to trace Wednesday morning, June 20 at the Denver Art Museum. Oncology patients from the Childrenâs Hospital Colorado visited the Denver Art Museum to check out the Yves Saint Laurent art exhibit and mingle with local fashion designers. The joint activity is part of a new partnership between the museum and the hospital designed to âharness the powerâ of art for treatment. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
For both former patients from the hospital’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, the visit was a chance to mix and mingle with peers in a different environment, a setting where questions of cancer, remission and recovery weren’t in the forefront. Patients came for an expanded look into “Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective,” the temporary museum exhibit focused on the output and legacy of the legendary French designer. The visit included runway walks, firsthand work with local designers and other exhibit-related activities for around 30 current and former patients, family and friends who attended the event.
“I like the shape of the top. I started with that, and I wanted something interesting, so I picked this funky skirt,” Blue-Norton said as she added bright colors to her design. Blue-Norton, who also attended the recent prom event at the hospital’s site in Aurora, said the visit to the museum gave her the chance to connect with friends in a different context. “It’s fun. You get to take your mind off the problems.”
Both Blue-Norton and Petroff are officially in remission, but the spectre of their battles with serious illness hasn’t completely disappeared. It looms long after any diagnosis, and leaves an imprint on future plans and everyday habits alike.
“It’s great to not be able to focus on the cancer, to be able to focus on other things. Now that we’re in remission, we’re ready to move forward,” said Karen Petroff, Grace’s mother. “We wanted to come and do something fun. It really is special.”
Incorporating art and creative output into that often-complicated recovery process isn’t a new concept at the Children’s Hospital Colorado, but the idea has expanded in recent months following a new and formal partnership with the Denver Art Museum.
Beginning with a kickoff art event at the hospital in Aurora last month, the museum and Children’s have launched a new initiative informally titled “Art Heals,” a partnership that includes paired projects at both sites. In the next three years, patients will have access to museum events in Denver and art therapy sessions at the hospital in Aurora. While organizers haven’t put a formal price tag on the new partnership, officials from both organizations say it will be rooted in sharing everything from a curator’s expertise to artwork by Children’s patients.
The fashion show centered in the traveling Yves Saint Laurent exhibit captured the spirit of the new project, officials said.
“It’s about this whole concept of ‘art heals.’ Out of the Children’s Hospital Colorado, they do a lot of great art therapy programs, and we also think of ourselves as being this restorative, creative place to be,” said Heather Nielsen, manager of community and family programs at the Denver Art Museum. “It’s really about how can we connect patients to the art museum and vice versa. That may involve bringing patients here for tours and exploring the collections. Likewise, we’re going out there.
“It’s really a back and forth,” she added.
The fashion event involved more than dry runs through exhibition halls. In addition to design work and walks on a temporary catwalk, former and current patients from Children’s had the chance to interact with Melissa May and Stephanie Ohnmacht, local designers who had plenty of outfits inspired by Yves Saint Laurent on hand for the kids to try on.
“I’m one of the featured designers in the demo. This seemed like a really fun idea to get dressed up. They’re definitely more willing to dress up and be crazy,” May said, speaking as she helped Blue-Norton and Petroff try on different outfits. “All the girls want pink stuff, but they’re willing to work with whatever you put together. That’s opposed to adults, who are too sheepish,” she added with a laugh.
That kind of immediate communication between artists and patients is at the core of the new partnership, Nielsen said, but it also includes the staff from both the museum and the hospital.
“An element to this is sharing the resources of the art museum with the staff of Children’s Hospital Colorado. You’re seeing the part of the partnership that’s really about the patient piece, but there’s also the community piece,” Nielsen said. “We’re going to go out there doing curator talks for staff … It’s a way to connect people back to the museum.”
The museum will also offer on-site visits and art materials for kids at Children’s patients. On a more immediate level, the museum will feature pieces from the hospital’s “Many Hands Create Art” initiative, a mural project that kicked off last year and included artwork from more than 40 hospital groups for a large-scale mural at the Children’s site.
For the patients, parent and family members who traveled to the museum last week, the benefits of the newly launched partnership were hard to miss.
“These are things to look forward to, and they’re things that I couldn’t really offer to her,” said Carla Blue-Norton, Elizabeth’s mother. “It’s expensive to take the whole family to the art museum.”
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at
agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com or 720-449-9707
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Thanks Adam for this article. Grace and I enjoyed reading it.