My Story

I started my career in pathology, researching estrogen and progesterone receptors in breast cancer. I published several articles about this, leading to the development of aromatase inhibitors. I am board-certified in Internal Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Care. I worked on my art on the side but took an art break from 2013 to 2019 to move back to Kansas City and help care for my aging mother. I worked as an academic hospitalist at Truman Medical Center, retiring in 2019. In 2018, I developed a course for the humanities department on Art and Medicine and taught four-month-long classes for credit. Currently, I'm writing a book about the course entitled “The Healing Arts: Look, See, Observe, Visualize."In 2019, I retired to be a full-time Creative. I am now living the creative life of a visual artist.

When I began showing my art in 2000, my focus was on the landscape and medical/biological images on silk or complex cloth. Biology is always an inspiration and the basis of my newest work on diatomes.

As far as my work and education in the arts, I have taken various workshops throughout the years on drawing, landscape painting, pastel painting, silk painting, and fabric arts. I have also taken classes at Washburn University, the Bemis Art Center in Colorado Springs, CO, and the Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, MO. I completed an intensive three-year training in fabric arts with Jane Dunnewald in San Antonio, TX.

My professional memberships include Fabric Arts, Missouri Fabric Artists, Kansas City Artists Coalition, Americans for the Arts, and Society for the Arts in Healthcare. I became a docent at the Kemper Museum of Modern Art, KCMO, in October 2022.

My goal is to speak and share about the healing practice of visual arts from my experience in the medical field. My previous leadership experience was as Chief of Medicine at several hospitals, and I served as Medical Director (or assistant director) of two hospices. I am a former Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri Kansas City Medical School, Humanities Department. My Missouri practice license is now retirement status (I previously licensed and practiced in six states). I am an experienced, practical physician who adheres to evidence-based medicine and enjoys bedside teaching, lecturing, and mentoring. I am idealistic, creative, and good at championing projects.

Art & Medical CV

Education

BA in biology and chemistry at Washburn University, 1976. MD from Kansas University Medical Center, 1979. Residency in Internal Medicine from Harrisburg Hospital, 1983. Board Certified in Internal Medicine Program

Medical Career

Rural health practice, Weeping Water, NE with NHS
HMO practice with Pike's Peak HealthcareColorado Springs, CO
Group practice in Kansas City, MO, and Lee's Summit, Mo. Out-patient, in-patient, long-term, & hospice
Indian Health Service at the Mescalero NM Indian Reservation
Locum Tenens, Long Term Acute Care, Boston, MA
Hospitalist at community hospitals and academic centers (credentialed in 17 hospitals during my career)
I organized a group of physicians to help the people of Honduras after Hurricane Mitch.
Assistant Professor at Kansas University Medical Center (1999 - 2001): taught geriatrics, was Medical Director of Manor Care (a long-term care facility), and Director of outpatient services.
Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine (2013 - 2019): taught Hospital Medicine and palliative and end-of-life care.

Juried Group Exhibitions

Westwood Hills Art Coalition, Westwood Hills, Ks, Fall 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003
Westwood Hills Art Coalition, Roeland Park City Hall, Oct 2000
Open Studios, Kansas City Artist’s Coalition, Oct 2004, Oct2006
Medical Staff Art Show, Falmouth Hospital-Faxon Center, May-Jun 2008
Medical Images on Silk University of Michigan Medical Center, Gifts of Art, Feb-Apr 2009
Falmouth Art Guild Member’s Show, Sept 2009, Oct 2009
Cotuit Pastel Juried Show, Cotuit Art Center, Cotuit, MA, May 2010
Rice GalleryMashpee, MA2013
Soft sculpture of Amelia Earhart, “Their Art/Her Art,” Interurban Art House, Mar-Apr 2021 (I then donated the sculpture to the Amelia Earhart Museum in Atchison, KS
Oil Paintings Jones Gallery, KCMO March 2021
Autumn in the Flint Hills, Art of the Flint Hills, Juried Show, Buttonwood Gallery, Oct-Nov 2022,
Buddha in the Garden Serenity Juried Show, Jul-Aug 2023
Diatoms, West Falmouth MA Summer Art Exhibit, Jul-Aug 2023

Solo Art
Exhibitions

Vision Quest: Journey of Seeing in Silk paintings and complex cloth, Park University, Aug-Nov 2022
Ghost Ranch Landscapes, Pastel and Oil Paintings, Second Presbyterian Church, Jan-Feb 2023
Woods Hole Library, Exhibit of Diatom Art, Sept-Oct 2023
Envision Art Gallery, “Art and Science Intertwined,” Jan-Mar 2024, Wichita, KS
ART by NTM: landscapes, Unitarian Fellowship of Falmouth, Aug-Sept 2013
Silk Paintings of Medical Images, Truman Lakewood Art Gallery, Spring of 2015
Silk Paintings of Medical Images, Healing Canvases, Summer of 2015
Exotic landscapes: “You’re not in Kansas anymore.” Faxon Center, Falmouth Hospital, May-June 2010
ART by NTM: Landscapes and Silk Paintings, Unitarian Fellowship of Falmouth, Falmouth, MA, Feb 2009
Silk Paintings of Medical Images, Unity on the Plaza, KC, MO, Nov 2006
Silk Painting of Medical Images, All Soul’s Unitarian Church, KC, MO, May 2007
New Mexico Landscapes, Missouri Bank, Feb – March 2004
Pastel Landscapes, North Kansas City, Mo, Feb- March 2003
Landscapes and Silk Paintings, Kansas City Internal Medicine, Lee’s Summit, Mo, Oct-Dec, 2004
Mission Springs, The Sweet Life, Pastel Landscapes, Mission, Ks, January, 2002
St. Charles Medical Center, Visualize Healing: Silk Paintings, Bend, Oregon, Sept – Nov 2002
Central Exchange, Pastel Landscapes
KC, MO, Sept-Nov, 2002
All Soul’s Unitarian Church, Pastel Landscapes and Silk Paintings, Kansas City, Mo, Sept 2001
Community Christian Church, Landscapes and Healing Visions, Kansas City, Mo
Jan-Feb, 2001
St. Michael’s and All Angel’s Church, Pastel Landscapes. Prairie Village, Ks, March, 2000
Clendening Historical Library/ Kansas University Medical Center, “Silk and Sand: Southwestern Pastel Landscapes on Sand Paper & Healing Visions on Silk” Kansas City, Ks, May – Jul 2000.
Mission Springs Retirement Center, Pastel Landscapes, Mission, Ks, Dec 2000

ART by NTM