Art students lend talents to Tree of Love bound for Magee-Womens Hospital
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Anvi Gupta contemplates her work so far in designing cards for the Tree of Love to be placed Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC.
Selva Priya shows her own artistic contribution to the Tree of Love.
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Cards for the Tree of Love are intended to brighten everyone’s day.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Meghana Kolli works on cards for the Tree of Love to be placed at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Kavya Yuvaraj displays her creativity.
Oviya Yuvaraj's card conveys an admirable message.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Working diligently on her Tree of Love contribution is Ishi Gupta.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Students work on their Tree of Love cards.
In addition to the usual arboreal displays this time of year will be a Tree of Love at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC.
On Dec. 6, art teacher Selva Priya and some of her students plan to travel to Oakland for the unveiling of the tree, which will feature hand-drawn greeting cards bearing positive messages.
The theme for the project, which the students completed in Priya’s South Fayette Township studio, is: “If my card made you smile, pass on the love!”
“I’m going to have some empty cards and some markers next to the tree, so that people can take one and spread the kindness to whomever they’d like,” Priya said.
She frequently has the students work on similarly smile-producing endeavors at a variety of locations, from her hometown library to other locations within the UPMC network, including Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the Hillman Cancer.
“We initially thought it would be for the holiday season, but now we have planned it yearlong,” she said about the Magee project. “Whenever the blank cards are gone, they can refill, and then the tree will always be full of cards.”
Priya, an Emerging Artist Scholarship recipient from the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival, worked on bringing the Tree of Love to Magee with Chris Vitsas, the hospital’s senior director of hospitality and operations.
“We’re just ecstatic to have it. We have a spot selected in the cafeteria, where we can hit the most people with it,” he said. “I think the biggest thing for us is that this is an act of compassion and shows empathy, and really is just a nice thing to do.”
Plus it fits right in with the overall health enterprise for which he works.
“The compassion that we have and our culture at UMPC is proven to reduce burnout, increase resilience and also increase patient outcomes,” Vitsas said. “It’s part of our core values, and we couldn’t be more excited to partner with Priya and the local community to really enhance the lives of our patients and our staff.”
For Priya’s students, the project represents an experience that goes beyond creating art.
“The kids have the accomplishment that their card is making somebody’s day or it’s making someone smile,” she said. “They know that it is going to a good place.”