Deborah Kasman
About the artist:
Deborah Kasman is a family physician and bioethicist who has straddled both careers. She has always loved the arts and was an active photographer until she started a family. As her children grew older, she decided to take up painting and learned a method called Intentional Creativity. This process and productivity has allow her a wonderful release and form of expression for her internal state.
About the artwork:
“As I entered bioethics full time, I was struggling to define my career and goals. During a five-month course of developing my story and ‘legend,’ I realized my role as bioethicist was to build bridges of compassion. I once had a deep spiritual experience in which I felt compassion, and in this painting I tried to convey what compassion feels like. My role is to create space for this compassion to occur between healthcare providers and their patients and families. The painting depicts a ribbon of people coming together from different sides, under a bridge, seeking this space. Animals appear during my process, and I put them in my paintings. Later, their ‘spirit meaning’ is revealed, and I learn why they appeared. In this case, a heron appeared. At the time, I was moving from clinical medicine to the complex, diverse role of an integrative bioethicist, and Heron energy is associated with the ability to do a variety of tasks, and comfort with knowing that if one way does not work, then another will.”
Visuals editor:
Sara Kohrt
