Ron Beahn understands the positive impact it can have on a young artist when they select a local youth’s artwork for permanent display at Akron Children’s Hospital.
And after 17 years as an art consultant for the hospital, he understands how important it is for young patients to feel as comfortable as possible in the hospital when they see artwork they can relate to and have been created by their peers.
It was an affair of the heart for Beahn, a Green Party resident, as he selected thousands of artworks by students from local schools during his tenure at the hospital. After serving as the hospital’s senior arts advisor, he is retiring this month, passing the torch to Jill Hazen, a retired Plain Local Schools special education teacher who lives in North Canton.
“We both have the same philosophy that it’s about the kids,” Beahn said.
“I buy the artwork with an eye on the patients who will look at it. The artwork should be something that they can relate to and hopefully feel a little more comfortable during their hospital stay,” he said. “The arts program is just another way the hospital can engage with the local community.”
Beahn built the hospital’s student art collection during a period of significant growth for Akron Children’s Hospital, which includes Beeghly Hospital’s campus in Boardman in 2008 and a new regional health center in Amherst in December. Student artwork adorns the walls at every facility at Akron Children’s Hospital, including Akron’s main hospital, 35 pediatric offices and 10 regional health centers.
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When students from kindergarten through 12th grade choose their art, they get paid. Elementary school students will receive a $25 gift card and high school students will receive a $50 gift card. Each student’s artwork is professionally framed and the work is accompanied by the student’s name tag, which includes their age, school and personal commentary on their art.
The Art Advisors work to exhibit student art in hospital facilities that serve the communities of specific school districts. More than 100 artworks usually go to a health center and 30 or 40 to a pediatrician’s office.
In late May, Beahn and Hazen walked the first floor of the hospital’s Kay Jewelers Pavilion building, discussing a corridor of student water-themed artwork. Pieces ranged from a lively watercolor of a sea turtle to a painting of a little girl with an umbrella.
Beahn installed more than 300 artworks from 58 schools in the seven-story Kay Jewelers Pavilion, which opened seven years ago.
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He is a watercolor artist who was the director of Boston Mills Artfest from 1995 to 2013. Beahn also formerly worked as an art curator for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and owned Ron Beahn’s custom framing in Cuyahoga Falls, which he closed last year.
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Beahn and Hazen, who have known each other as artists for 35 years, used to take painting classes together.
She has already enjoyed attending numerous schools and opted for arts at Highland Local Schools in late May before they closed for the summer. Student art needs to be purchased this far in advance for a handful of winter hospital projects.
“We have a very small window to buy art,” Beahn explained.
“Authentic art” calms young patients
Student art of a cute giraffe watercolor graces a hallway in the hospital’s vision center in the Considine building. Coventry Middle School artist Kaiden Gerry, who was in fifth grade when his art was selected, creatively described his work as “a cartoon/animation design for a comedian-style giraffe”.
Hazen’s mission is to serve the same purpose that has existed since the hospital’s arts program began in 1993, which Beahn has so carefully focused on since 2005.
“When a patient comes in and a family comes in and sees authentic art, it tends to relax them a little. We want to stay true to that kind of purpose,” she said.
Beahn said Hazen ticked all the boxes for the arts consultant position given her passion for art and children. Her artistic background is similar to his own and she also used to own a picture gallery in Hartville.
He told Hazen that being an art consultant was the perfect job for her and asked if she would consider it. She realized it was the right position at the right time.
“It would be art; it would go back to schools,” said Hazen, who volunteered one day a week with special needs students at Glenwood Intermediate after retiring last year.
Hazen has worked with Beahn since February when she took on liaison with art schools for emergency care at Akron Children’s Hospital in Warren, as well as the Beeghly Hospital campus. She loves traveling around the region, speaking to teachers and seeing children.
“The nursery art is so adorable. You can look at them all day and just smile,” said Hazen.
In retirement, Beahn will focus on his painting career, planning painting trips and pottering around in his new gray C8 Corvette. He also plans to continue framing the children’s art program.
He will always remember his work at the hospital as fulfilling.
“It grounded me as a person in many ways that I wasn’t aware of,” Beahn said.
Exhibition of works by young artists ‘gives them a little boost’
Over the years, Behn has made it a point to ask teachers if any of their art students have been going through a hard time or have special needs. Once these students are identified, he ensures that their work is included in his purchases.
“By purchasing art for a child with special needs, it does two things: the hospital not only gets a piece of art, it does something special for that child. It gives them a little boost,” he said.
About four years ago this happened in Hazen’s school. One of her sixth grade students who had suffered from abuse had his art bought by Beahn for the hospital. Hazen organized a breakfast for all 12 students whose art was selected. She invited her parents, grandparents and Beahn and decked them out with a big congratulatory banner.
“I was so excited that my special needs student bought an artwork that I said to Ron, ‘We need to celebrate!’ ‘ said Rabbit. “The parents wanted pictures of their child with the art with Ron. You were so proud.”
Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson can be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.