Featured Artist: Angelo

Written by Sumana Dugar, MFT, PCC Trainee

Meet Angelo, a 5 year old explorer of paint mixing, numbers & languages

Angelo’s art is filled with alphabets, number blocks with googly eyes and swirly paint patterns! Whether its color mixing or fun space facts, Angelo loves to adventure and learn new things about art and the world around him. With silly jokes and cheeky remarks, Angelo has participated in multiple Art Therapy sessions over the several months of his stay at the hospital.

Read on to learn about Angelo and his mom Stefanie’s experience with bedside Art Therapy.

Angelo’s favorite things to do at the hospital are painting, color mixing, and painting number blocks and roses. In the words of Angelo, Art Therapy makes him feel “fun, cool and Awesome!”

Angelo’s mom Stefanie has actively participated in Art Therapy sessions. When asked about her experience she shared, “If Angelo didn’t have Art Therapy, he would have never created bonds with other medical providers and staff. Art Therapy has offered consistency in care, and a fun familiar space for Angelo to keep coming back to things he enjoys”

Angelo with his mom Stefanie

Setefanie shared that Art Therapy sessions have highly motivated her son to “interact in bed and light up with joy!” She has enjoyed watching her son “flourish while learning to interact and communicate needs using his words.” She celebrates the progress in Angelo’s fine and gross motor movements (a rehab goal that Angelo often unconsciously practiced while engaged in art making). “It’s amazing how his arms and hands have gotten so much stronger, He has so much more precision in his work now.” Stephanie was overjoyed to hear her son “Verbalize himself and use speech to request for colors, and using a louder voice when he did not feel understood or receive exactly what he wants.”