The Art and Design Program at Miami Cancer Institute

If you walk the grounds and public spaces of Miami Cancer Institute, you’ll notice unique art installations, including sculptures, paintings and textiles. The pieces are part of the Institute’s Art and Design collection. Surrounding patients and caregivers with art and beauty contributes to both their physical and emotional well-being.

Research has shown that patients exposed to the arts experience less pain, decreased anxiety and a better overall mindset during cancer treatment. Along with the Institute’s Arts in Medicine program, our Art and Design Program cares for the whole person—body, mind and spirit.

Art and Design Permanent Collection

Four large-scale sculptures by three distinguished American artists and a group of brilliantly colored textiles and quilts were made possible through donors’ generous gifts.

The sculptures grace the Institute’s grounds, while the quilts and textiles are located throughout the first floor of the Institute, located on the main campus of Baptist Health of South Florida.

A gift from JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, the quilts and textiles were created by artists from around the globe between 1880 and the late 20th century. Many were created by unknown artisans who relied on knowledge handed down from generation to generation to create the pieces. Quilts and textiles in the Art and Design Collection served both ceremonial and practical uses, including bedding, wall hangings, currency and clothing for ritual dances.

Shaham Family Gallery Special Exhibitions

To complement the Institute’s permanent holdings, the Art and Design Program features an ongoing series of special exhibitions in the Shaham Family Gallery. These exhibits highlight the work of artists with ties to South Florida and change on a regular basis.

The inaugural exhibition celebrates the work of Lynne Golob Gelfman (1944-2020), a highly respected painter who moved to Miami in the early 1970s. During her lifetime, she was a beloved and influential member of the region’s arts community. The six large paintings on view in the Shaham Family Gallery reveal Gelfman’s distinctive and elegant style grounded in the modernist tradition of geometric abstraction. Featured pieces in the exhibition also underscore her admiration for handcrafted objects and textiles from around the world, especially from Colombia, where Gelfman once lived and often traveled.

Gelfman cared deeply about the importance of art in everyone’s life. For decades she donated her time and talent to teaching art to children at The Barnyard, a program of Coconut Grove Cares and she was a founding member of the Art and Design Program at the Institute where she was a patient.

Learn more about the program

To learn more about our arts program, please email MCIArtsInMedicine@BaptistHealth.net.