Filling hospitals with art work is just a wonderful thing to do. I don't know whether it makes anyone live longer, but it sure makes being in hospital or visiting someone in hospital a lot pleasanter. That must be good.

When you consider how sterile modern buildings are, offering nothing pleasant to the eye, the idea of providing (good!)artwork is an excellent one.

Oh, I read this with great interest, as you can well imagine. The hospital my mother was in was quite bland. And the nursing home she is in now is just ... ugly! Ugh. What a nice thing it would be to "art" it up. A good friend and I recently set up her apartment after she moved in. It looks great because she considers it important to include art in the design of the interior.

Thanks all! A few weeks ago we happened to visit a pediatric ward in one of our hospitals and we were struck by how cheerful it was with lots of artwork in the hallways and the rooms. Some of the work was by young artists and children but I recognized some by well known artists too. Why not the same everywhere?

Important reminder to all of us on need for art in more public places. Would be good idea if local bus and trolley lines in Portland could ditch some of the official, endlessly repeated notices for visual stimulation of, for instance, your lovely tie-dye image. More public art might enhance our public discourse, I want to believe.

Naomi, aye, aye, how I agree, here and everywhere!

Such a lovely idea. (I'm amused that the art collector's name is Mira - Spanish for "look"!)

Leslee, that is amazing about the collector's name - I had no idea!