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HSL to Host Special Presentation: The Art of Observation

Fine tuning the clinical skills needed to not only look, but to see

October 08, 2018
Carolyn Halpin-Healey, M.A.

Carolyn Halpin-Healy, M.A., executive director of Arts & Minds and an educator from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, will present “The Art of Observation,” a discussion and reflection on art that can improve one’s skills in examination, description, understanding, communication, empathy and ultimately care.

Presenting works in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ms. Halpin-Healy will discuss ways in which art can support reflection, creative thinking and self-care for health professionals. With 25 years of experience as a museum educator, she co-founded Arts & Minds in 2010, with neurologist James M. Noble, M.D., to provide museum-based experiences for people with dementia and their care partners. She is dedicated to improving quality of life through engagement with art in museums.

Ms. Halpin-Healy teaches at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Union Theological Seminary. She has trained museum staff and volunteers throughout the U.S. and Asia to conduct person-centered art dialogue and art making, that keeps individuals with Alzheimer’s disease in touch with themselves—cognitively, socially, emotionally and artistically. She publishes in peer-reviewed journals and presents regularly at professional conferences. She holds an M.A. in Art History from Williams College and a Graduate Certificate in Adult Learning from the City University of New York.