A guide to Roswell Park's art collection

The comfort people feel at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is produced largely by the dedicated professionals who care for patients every day. But it is also a result of the enhanced environment created by our extensive art collection.

Established in 2001 under the leadership of Nancy Jewett, the Roswell Park Alliance Art Committee built upon the art collection developed by Jean Knox, a longtime Roswell Park benefactor. Since that time, more than 1800 works of art have been installed in the hospital.

The all-volunteer Art Committee is charged with overseeing the selection, installation and maintenance of the artwork displayed at Roswell Park. Its members include artists, patrons of the arts, museum curators, community leaders, benefactors, family members and friends of our patients – all united in the belief that art can play a powerful role in the healing process.

“The members of the Art Committee are committed to easing a tiny bit of the challenge patients, family, friends, as well as staff, face when confronted with a diagnosis of cancer,” said RoseAnn Berardi, co-chair of the Art Committee. “We believe that we all search for meaning in our lives, and our hope is that the art we select will connect with people in some of the same ways that good friends do, quietly giving comfort when called upon. We try our best to offer a broad range of styles and media because we know that each person is unique, and that is a wonderful thing.”

The Art Heals Gallery has been open on the first floor of the Main Hospital since July 2020. The gallery's first exhibition, The Art of Seeing, the Power of Feeling, will be closing in August. The gallery is open 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for patients to come in and relax, take their mind off the day, and immerse themselves in work by some of the area's best artists.

With Western New York’s rich cultural heritage, Roswell Park’s art collection is a testament to the quality of the legacy of the visual arts apparent in our region. Many of the artists represented in the collection have exhibited their work locally, nationally and internationally.