Work by Daniel Tarsy, Shenieque Bennett and Yu-Fang Chang. Image: M Campbell
Jessica Brown, research assistant at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, has been making quilts for three years but had never had the opportunity to show her work before.
“We need all the reminders of beauty and creativity we can get in this world,” she said.
Brown was one of 63 Longwood Medical Area community members whose talents were on display in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine for two weeks in April, as part of the broader LMA campus On My Own Time (OMOT) exhibit.
Diane Standring, administrative training and support specialist at the Harvard Chan School, shared her handmade jewelry. “It’s a great way to show people more about who you are,” she added.
Revived in 2013 and organized by Tania Rodriguez, community engagement curator for the Countway Library, along with Ilia Maldonado, senior HR and events coordinator for the Harvard Chan School, OMOT showcases the diverse range of talents found among staff, faculty, academic appointees and students on the Harvard Longwood Campus.
“I really appreciate this as a Longwood campus event that brings together not only the three schools and affiliates—but also every pay grade,” said Rodriguez. “I can’t think of other events that do this in a meaningful way.”
Maldonado also sees OMOT as a way to highlight the importance of a work-life balance.
“I enjoy the many outside-of-work talents we see in our community and how willing everyone is to share—and their excitement at sharing it,” said Maldonado.
The exhibit officially opened on April 8 with a reception in the library lobby featuring displays of participants’ painting, sculpture, jewelry, poetry, needlework and mixed media, as well as live performances.
Using the Countway Library staircase as a stage, Michael Donnino, HMS associate professor of emergency medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, began the performances with a display of mentalism and other acts of seeming clairvoyance.
Musical performances featured Nate Ko, a master of bioethics candidate at HMS, playing violin and singing; Brighid McHugh-Mullane, senior grants manager at the Harvard Chan School, playing fiddle; Chris Thompson Lively, education coordinator at HMS, on guitar and vocals; and Tariana Little, a DrPH candidate, and Cristina Munk, clinical trial manager at the Harvard Chan School, and Jessica Huang, a DrPH candidate at the Harvard Chan School, both members of the Dudley World Music Ensemble, comprised of graduate students and postdocs from departments across Harvard and MIT.
The performances concluded with Ga Young Lee, research fellow in cell biology at HMS, joined by Philip Lederer, formerly of HMS, who both played violin while Martha Vedrine, staff assistant at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine who has a degree in music education with an emphasis on choral conducting, led the audience in a sing-along of “America the Beautiful.”
“The exhibit brings people together,” said Rodriguez. “The broader community is often blown away by the talent on display.”
“It’s a pleasure to share what you enjoy with others,” said Patrice Ayers, faculty assistant at the Harvard Chan School, who showed a shawl she knitted, one of the many projects she has completed in the four years since taking up the craft. “I learn something new with each project.”
The OMOT exhibit is held every two years, and the next call for submissions will go out in January 2021. For more information, visit the OMOT webpage.
