Spring is still weeks away, and it feels like it given the winter chill currently blanketing South Louisiana – but with one notable exception.
The soothing landscape paintings and oversized florals of local artist Mary Helen Seago have been adding a dash of springtime warmth for staff and visitors to St. Tammany Parish Hospital as part of “Celebrations in Bloom,” a solo exhibition continuing through Feb. 5 as part of St. Tammany Hospital Foundation’s Healing Arts Initiative.
“The idea is simple but profound: to promote healing and mental well-being through the arts,” foundation Executive Director Nicole Suhre said. “And I have to say, Mary Helen’s stunning work, with its emphasis on natural beauty, is a perfect illustration of that.”
For the 85-year-old Seago, who grew up in New Orleans and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Newcomb College, being asked to show her work at St. Tammany Health System’s flagship hospital is both humbling and satisfying.
“I just think there’s so much beauty in the world that people don’t see,” she said. “So it really inspired me to paint happy colors and pull your eye to all the different colors.”
And if there’s one thing the curated selection of 34 works included in the “Celebrations in Bloom” exhibition has, it’s happy colors.
That’s by virtue of Seago’s long-held fascination with natural beauty, which is perhaps best epitomized by her close-ups of delicate blooms blown up to fill oversized canvases – a process she said took time to perfect.
“Now I can’t go back,” she said. “It’s all in teaching your brain to see things differently or do proportions differently. It’s all about allowing your brain to express itself.”
That distinctive style has earned her fans at the health system, which has featured her work previously as part of multi-artist shows. Additionally, the Healing Arts Committee’s permanent collection contains several of her works. That includes one in the hospital’s executive board room, another in STHS President and CEO Joan Coffman’s office and another in a third-floor patient area.
Now, “Celebrations in Bloom” puts it front and center.
“This program really appeals to me,” Seago said, “because I think the people who come through the hospital want something happy to look at, something joyful – and that’s what I do.”
View “Celebrations in Bloom” for free through Feb. 5 in the first-floor lobby of St. Tammany Parish Hospital in Covington.