Passing the Torch – Dr.Madoline O’Connell at the Jennings Gallery | Áine McLaughlin

An upcoming exhibition at the Jennings Gallery, “Passing the Torch,” which will run concurrently with “The Experience of Illness” show at the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, will display the art of Dr.Madoline O’Connell, a former UCC student herself, as well as medical professional and talented artist. It will be curated by UCC students Áine McLaughlin and Amber Shrestha.The Jennings Gallery, located on the Brookfield Medical Campus, is the focal point of arts for the entire UCC School of Medicine. The Jennings highlights work done by medical and healthcare professionals as well as students, effectively challenging the idea that one must be strictly categorized as either right-brained or left-brained and instead showcasing the intersection between the arts and the sciences.Dr. O’Connell, who is the university’s oldest living graduate and the granddaughter of former UCC president, Sir Bertam Windle, worked with Alexander Fleming, the inventor of penicillin, during the 1940s, and as a medical doctor in London during the Second World War. As the Jennings Gallery is dedicated to stressing the importance of developing observational skills, both in their exhibits and through their support of Looking at Art classes and the Patrons Program, Dr. O’Connell’s work is especially relevant to their mission. Not only does Dr. O’Connell’s background in both medicine and art suggest the intersection between the two areas, but her story and her work are a unique illumination of a rich past that is increasingly rare in modern times.The College of Medicine and Health at UCC is the only school to not only offer but actually require students to take Looking at Art classes, in which 370 students are currently enrolled, in order to enhance their observational skills and broaden their horizons. What sets UCC apart from current international practice in this area is the fact that these students are drawn not only from the school of medicine but form across all schools of Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy.  There is a ground swell of initiative worldwide to integrate humanities and the arts into education, broadly speaking, yet in colleges of medicine and health the practice is more often seen in schools of medicine, and in many instances takes the shape of elective, albeit credited modules.UCC  is the first Irish college and university in the world to execute a top-down decision to deliver arts programs in a cohesive way using the well-researched methodology called Visual Thinking Strategies (http://www.vtshome.org/) within in a framework that is the Jennings Gallery. The gallery works to support this initiative through their ‘Learn to See’ patron program as well as by encouraging student involvement, whether it be working or interning at the Jennings or submitting art for an exhibition.“Passing the Torch” will open on November 29th in the Jennings Gallery, located on the first floor of the Brookfield Health Sciences Complex.