• Sharing Mayo Clinic

    Mayo fellow Zofia Nowicki, M.D., shares love of art with patients with exhibit at Mayo Clinic hospital

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Dr. Zofia Nowicki has had a passion for art for as long as she can remember.

Growing up in an artistic and medical family in Florida (her mother is a professional artist and her father and brother are physicians), Dr. Nowicki, a fellow within Mayo Clinic’s radiology department completing a fellowship in Body MRI, has found many opportunities  to combine her love of art and science.

While attending medical school, she completed a number of paintings inspired by the patient-doctor relationship which were featured in a number of  hospitals, galleries and colleges.  Her art work has also graced the pages of medical publications. In the fall of 2001, her oil painting “Rome at Dusk” was on the cover of the medical student section of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). In the spring of 2006, her work “The Chest Exam” graced the cover of the publication Florida Physician.

Now, with an exhibit of six large oil on canvas paintings currently on display on the first floor of Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, this doctor has now made her debut as an artist  in the southwest, with her series of colorfully textured Arizona landscapes for Mayo visitors to enjoy.

“When I first interviewed here, I was impressed with the artwork at Mayo Clinic. I liked how they incorporate art into patient care,” says Dr. Nowicki, who met Kit Kough, Mayo Clinic’s Center for Humanities in Medicine coordinator, this past spring to discuss the possibility of having her own work exhibited at Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Nowicki says she was pleased to be chosen to participate in Mayo’s Loaned Art program.

“I was very happy. It’s nice to be able to do this within your workplace,” says Dr. Nowicki, who now joins the rank of a number of Mayo colleagues who have had the opportunity to express their creative sides for the benefit of Mayo patients.

“Dr. Nowicki is a wonderful addition to the Loaned Artwork Program roster because not only has she lent her talents to Mayo Clinic through her fellowship, she now has contributed to the healing environment through her art. We were excited to have her apply to the program, and her work was chosen for her engaging take on the landscapes that she paints,” says Kough.

Working in her Scottsdale home studio in her free time, Dr. Nowicki spent several months preparing her paintings for the Mayo exhibit which debuted in April.  Her newfound love of Arizona’s landscapes served as her inspiration.

“Recently having moved to Arizona from Florida, I have been inspired by the beautiful mountains and sunsets. In my landscapes I try to capture the mood created by dramatic lighting….. I hope that my work brings out the same emotions in the viewer as I experience while painting."

“It’s such a privilege to be able to bring a high caliber of artwork to our rotating galleries; it’s a special treat when the artist also happens to be a Mayo Clinic employee,” says Kough of Dr. Nowicki’s contribution.

Dr. Nowicki’s artwork will be on exhibit at the Phoenix campus through the week of June 22.  To preview her paintings, please click on the following links:

View of Camelback Mountain 1

Sunset Point 1

Sedona 1 – View from Cathedral Rock

Prescott Mountains 1

AZ Sunset 2

AZ Landscape

For inquiries regarding the exhibit or to share comments, please contact Dr. Nowicki at drzofia@yahoo.com.

For additional information on Mayo Clinic’s Humanities in Medicine program, please call Kit Kough at 480-301-4648.

Photo credit of Dr. Zofia Nowicki (pictured above): Matt Greving

Julie Janovsky is a member of Mayo Clinic's Public Affairs department.

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