Two major art installations by Jordan Bennett at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Elizabeth McIntosh at UHN’s West Park Healthcare Centre to be revealed April 8
TORONTO, April 1, 2025 – RxART, dedicated to introducing artwork in hospital spaces, is proud to announce its Canadian debut with the completion of two new art installations at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Elizabeth McIntosh at UHN’s West Park Healthcare Centre, featuring work by celebrated Canadian artists Jordan Bennett and Elizabeth McIntosh.
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Artist, Jordan Bennett.
Founded in New York City, RxART’s very first hospital project was a trial run in 2002 at Rockefeller University Hospital featuring work from several renowned artists including Wolfgang Tillmans, Mel Bochner, and Jessica Stockholder, among others. Since then, the charity organization has grown and evolved leading up to its first international expansion in Toronto.
“RxART is thrilled to extend our mission to Canada, bringing health and healing through museum-quality art installations in hospital settings,” says Diane Brown, Founder and President of RxART and RxArt Canada. “We are delighted to collaborate with talented
Canadian artists from coast to coast, enriching healthcare environments with works that offer beauty and comfort. Our hope is that these installations will inspire joy in patients, families, staff, and everyone who encounters them.”
“Having spent a fair amount of time in hospital spaces, I have learned that having positive and uplifting art work can ease the bad days and provide a glimmer of hope,“ says Lauren Silverberg, Board Secretary of RxART Canada. “RxArt Canada’s hope is that we can raise the spirits of those who need light in their life through inspirational art works.”
Two Canadian Artists
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Jordan Bennett, a Mi’kmaw visual artist from Stephenville Crossing, Ktaqmkuk now based in Corner Brook, Newfoundland brings his vibrant piece Blueberries with Nan to the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. The artwork blends Mi’kmaq cultural symbols with contemporary forms, creating a powerful visual narrative of colour, growth and resilience. In Mi’kmaq culture, it’s a symbolic gesture to bring blueberries to share at feasts, which is why Bennett has chosen to include berries in this installation, to share his medicine. For him, blueberries represent healing, power and hope.
Elizabeth McIntosh‘s multi-wall installation Inside Out showcased at West Park Healthcare Centre draws inspiration from traditional French domestic wallpaper to create a warm and welcoming environment that evokes a sense of home. McIntosh adapted a wall paper pattern from a Matisse drawing to allude to the domestic and inserted abstracted landscapes as a reference to a world beyond hospital walls. Her goal was to instill a domestic interior while simultaneously establishing the idea of an art gallery through playful colours.
While this marks RxART’s first official Canadian launch, the organization previously collaborated with Toronto-based artist Julia Dault in 2019 on a project for the Dental and Orthodontics Clinics at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).
RxART Canada has further projects in the works, including an exciting upcoming installation with specialty hospital Casey House. RxART continues its mission to provide hospitals with artist-commissioned works at no cost to the facilities, along with honorariums for the artists involved.
Official Ribbon-cutting Ceremonies, April 8
RxART Canada will be hosting official ribbon-cutting ceremonies, which will occur at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre on April 8 at 11:30 a.m to unveil the new Jordan Bennett installations. Later that evening, a reception will be held at UHN’s West Park Healthcare Centre from 5pm to 7:30 p.m. to celebrate the Elizabeth McIntosh installation.
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