APA Members Expose Their Creative Side
The APA Art Association (APAAA), celebrating 40 years of existence, will once again shine a light at APA's annual meeting on the artistic creativity and expression of APA members who take their lesser known avocation as serious as their more public professional calling.
Is there a hidden artistic side of you? Would you like to share your work with your colleagues on a large stage? Well, the APAAA extends to you and other APA members, as well as spouses and significant others, an invitation to join in.
The art exhibit will run from Sunday, May 4, to Wednesday, May 7, in the L Street Bridge Lobby on Level 2 of the Washington Convention Center. Visitors to the exhibit will be able to vote on the pieces that they deem best, or at least the ones that most catch their fancy. A reception, during which ribbons will be awarded to winning artists, will be held from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 6.
The size of the art association sometimes swells from 50 core members to 100 or more by exhibit day when non-APAAA members pay the $30 membership dues to join the association, which includes the cost of showing up to two pieces of art. Patron dues are $30. Additional pieces to show are $5 each, to a maximum of six.
Entry forms must be received by April 25. (See end of article for details about submitting an entry form and other requirements.)
Habib Nathan, M.D., used a “glasswork fusing” technique to create the above image of a galloping horse seemingly suspended in a block of blue-white ice.
Credit: Habib Nathan, M. D.
“The idea for this is to encourage other psychiatrists to consider exhibiting their art,” said psychiatrist and artist Habib Nathan, M.D., of San Antonio, Tex. Nathan, a 15-year member of the APAAA, exhibits his own work yearly at the annual meeting, and presently—for the second time—is serving as the art association's president.
The exhibit is open to a wide range of artistic media, Nathan said: paintings (from oils to watercolors to mixed media), black and white or color photography, sculpture, pottery, ceramics, graphics, computer art, textiles, jewelry, arts and crafts, and poetry.
The art glass menorah was also created by Nathan, who is president of the APA Art Association.
Credit: Habib Nathan, M. D.
As for Nathan, he specializes in decorative, handmade art glass. He started off creating stained-glass objects d'art, but in short order his interest shifted, and he has settled on what has become his medium of choice.
“I do glasswork fusing and sculpture glass,” he said. “I also make jewelry out of glass.”
Glass fusing, he said, is a technique in which small pieces of glass—clear or colored or of mixed hues—are arranged inside a kiln fired up to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. They remain there until the glass pieces meld into the texture of pliable taffy. Then he removes the glass from the kiln and puts it onto a heat-resistant surface where he “slumps” it into the creative form desired. The forms he prefers to create are colorful glass decorative plates, bowls, and other such receptacles.
Nathan has created more than 100 pieces over the years in his spare time, which includes a three-day weekend now that he has cut his office hours back to four days a week. But as has been his habit over the years, he will create three new pieces just for the APAAA exhibit.
“It's a good hobby,” he said. “It is very structured, and for a psychiatrist, structure is very good—if you fail to follow protocol your glass may break.”
The entry form and requirements to participate in the APA Art Association's art exhibit can be accessed at<www.psych.org/Events/AnnualMeeting.aspx> by clicking on “APA Affiliate Programs” and then “APA Art Association schedule” under “Resources.” The entry form and information also appear in the Annual Meeting Advance Registration Information booklet. ▪
