Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin, 2014, fiberglass-reinforced plastic and urethane paint. Gift of Robert M. Kaye; © Yayoi Kusama; Courtesy of David Zwirner, New York / Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo and Singapore / Victoria Miro, London / YAYOI KUSAMA Inc. Photo courtesy of Cleveland Clinic.

Cleveland Clinic's contemporary collection boasts over 7,000 artworks but there’s one gourd in particular we’d like to showcase. 

Artwork Archive is lucky to have an impressive roster of clients with world-renowned art collections.

In this series, we share a collection and the story of one of its outstanding artworks. 

 

“Our collection is a working collection.”

Founded in 2006, the Art Program of Cleveland Clinic endeavors to provide a museum-quality art experience for patients, visitors, and caregivers at all of their facilities. Cleveland Clinic curator Sienna Brown explains that the job of the collection is to promote healing. “I don’t care about rarity; I care about efficacy,” Sienna states.

With the guiding principle of “Patients First,” the Art Collection works to promote healing through art. 

Cleveland Clinic stewards one of the largest art collections in the region with over 7,000 artworks.

Out of the thousands of artworks, Artwork Archive asked if they had a piece that stands out.

 

Dive in to learn about Cleveland Clinic’s "Pumpkin" by Yayoi Kusama.

Aubrey O’Brien, Art Collection Coordinator at Cleveland Clinic, shares, “Yayoi Kusama’s 'Pumpkin' is an obvious choice. We all know and love the Pumpkin. It’s on our main campus and a focal point. It’s one of the first artworks you see and gives a taste of the collection.” 

 

The Pumpkin is bright and cheery so it’s a welcoming greeting for what can be a stressful entrance. 

Kusama's Pumpkin is located in the Miller Family Pavilion lobby and is one of the first artworks you see when you enter. It sets the tone with its playfulness, which is critical since most visits to a hospital are stressful experiences. Art in hospitals seek to create calming and comforting spaces that elevates the spirit.

The Art Program’s mission is to craft engaging, meaningful interactions with contemporary art within a healthcare setting. Integral to the healing environment, the artwork activates and anchors spaces throughout Cleveland Clinic.

 

The Pumpkin is also very recognizable. 

“The Pumpkin is an object all by itself. Without having any context about the artist or the work, you like it,” shares Aubrey. But many viewers can identify the Pumpkin as a work of Kusama's thanks to her increasing popularity in the West. 

Kusama is a Japanese artist known for her use of polka dots and her infinity installations. Aubrey shares that people in Cleveland recognize Kusama's work because the Cleveland Museum of Art hosted her infinity rooms. 

Photograph courtesy of Cleveland Clinic.

Like successful artworks in public space, the Pumpkin is used for wayfinding. 

Kusama's sculpture was moved to a highly trafficked area within the main lobby. And now it is often used as wayfinding for tours. It’s common to hear, “Meet us by the pumpkin.”

Originally the Pumpkin was installed only 500 feet away from its current location. Its first home was in the Children’s lobby with the hope that children would interact with the piece. But the piece had to be relocated because of construction and it wasn’t returned because a new partition and reception desk was added–blocking off its original location. 

Hospitals are always changing. Clinical spaces are reconfigured for patients so art has to be flexible within these elements. Thanks to the construction, the Pumpkin found a new and arguably more impactful location. 

 

The Pumpkin creates meaningful engagement opportunities.

The Pumpkin was also included in Cleveland Clinic's Daily Art Breaks – an e-blast that gives caregivers a moment of wellness before they end their day. 

 

How did the Pumpkin find a home in the Cleveland Clinic collection?

Benefactors are crucial to the Art Program’s success. The Pumpkin was generously donated by Robert M. Kay, a major supporter of the Art Collection and a former chair of Cleveland Clinic’s Arts & Medicine Leadership Board in addition to being a repeat donor. He also gifted the Anthony Pearson sculpture, Untitled (Transmission), currently on view in the Miller Family Pavilion lobby.

 

Cleveland Clinic has assembled a remarkable collection that pleases, comforts and challenges millions of patients and visitors every year.

Cleveland Clinic’s contemporary art collection has been developed by combining traditional media such as painting, drawing, print and photography with new media including video, digital imagery, computer-generated artworks and mixed media works. 

Cleveland Clinic is in a unique position as an art collection stewarded by a non-profit healthcare organization. The Art Program is an in-house curatorial department that acquires work by established, emerging and regional artists. These artists are all at different stages of their careers, and Cleveland Clinic acquires artwork at a larger volume than local and regional contemporary art museums. 

Patients and visitors are able to enjoy a breadth of artwork due to the functional nature of the collection–over 90% of collection artwork is currently on view. In a building like Miller Family Pavilion, patients can experience contemporary artwork by an up-and-coming artist like Leah Hewson alongside works by more established artists like David Korty and Nina Bovasso.

 

The art collection is designed to present a broad range of perspectives, promoting empathy and inclusion by making visible the diversity of patients, visitors and caregivers.

The collection not only has a responsibility to Cleveland Clinic values and the organizational mission, but also to the diverse experiences of patients, visitors and caregivers, including those of the Fairfax community where Main Campus resides. The curators ensure that the artwork creates a healing environment for patients, and that the artwork on display is accessible and meaningful to the local community. 

Maintaining a large collection throughout so many different clinical spaces can be challenging, but the guiding principle of "Patients First" helps the team prioritize their workload and define the direction and function of the collection.

Eva LeWitt, Untitled (for Mentor), 2023, mesh and aluminum. Commissioned for Mentor Hospital. Photos courtesy of David Berlekamp.

 

Cleveland Clinic curates on a global scale.

Cleveland Clinic is one of the world’s largest healthcare systems with 81,000 caregivers, 23 hospitals and 275 outpatient facilities in locations around the globe. That’s a lot of artwork to acquire and steward!

The Pumpkin can, and has, moved around campus, but Cleveland Clinic also curates site-specific installations to activate spaces. There are more than 45 site-specific artworks throughout Main Campus and regional markets like Weston Hospital in Florida, Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas and Cleveland Clinic London. 

Aubrey shares: 

“One of our most recent site-specific artworks, Untitled (for Mentor), was created by artist Eva LeWitt for the newly constructed Mentor Hospital. LeWitt is known for her large and colorful fiber sculptures. The curatorial team worked with the artist to commission a site-specific artwork that spans the entire length of Mentor Hospital's lobby. It's vivid, fun and eye-catching, and an answer to the patients, visitors, and caregivers who want to see more color on the clean white walls of the hospital.”

 

Cleveland Clinic uses Artwork Archive to maintain their impressive collection.

As shared in our webinar about location and loan tracking, Cleveland Clinic is a heavy-user of Location Tracking within Artwork Archive because of the sheer size and scale of their collection. 

With a contemporary collection, Aubrey also shares the importance of tracking credit lines within an art database.

“The credit lines for the Pumpkin are very important because of how Kusama's career has peaked late in her life. Her studio deals with a lot of licensing; she collaborated with Louis Vuitton on a special collection of luxury goods with her iconic polka dots. So it’s important to have updated and accurate credit lines.

We are using Artwork Archive’s Notes section to track long and short form options. This way we can easily pop in and grab a credit line that has been approved. With digital imagery reproduction, it’s critical that we make sure all of our artist and copyright information is stored and accessible for both the public and our Cleveland Clinic Foundation.” 

 

Cleveland Clinic embraces and advances the healing impact of the arts.

The Art Program has conducted two research studies about contemporary art in the hospital setting. Results consistently show that the art has a positive effect on patients’ mood, stress level and overall experience.

“We know that works of art can enhance the patient environment when carefully chosen and thoughtfully curated. Artworks lend comfort, beauty and wit to the environment. They promote innovation by challenging our ways of seeing. Above all, they assert the strength of our humanity in the face of sickness and misfortune.” – From the Cleveland Clinic website, Power of Art.

And thanks to a pumpkin, there’s a bit more joy and delight in the Miller lobby.