By Mary Gow
ARTS CORRESPONDENT
Latex surgical gloves, cozy knit gloves, work gloves, a leather driving glove, a ski glove with metal clip dangling, a delicate dress glove, a pair of small cuffed gloves — dozens of gloves, like so many hands, touch each other, forming an arc that seems to float along an expanse of wall. Each glove is distinct. In iridescent hues of the rainbow, they glow with reflected light.
Simple and complex, this arc of human touch invites viewers to pause. Patients, caregivers, medical staff and others who pass by it daily may find comfort and wonder and perhaps a bit of humor in its unlikely medium.
“Arc of Healing Hands,” this public sculpture by Vermont and Boston based artist B. Amore, also a regular contributor to Vermont Arts, was installed last weekend at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Centrally located in a well-traveled main hallway, the installation also includes two poems by Amore.
The work, Amore explains on its dedication plaque, “is a tribute to the spirit of loving care which supports the healing process.”
“Arc of Healing Hands” was inspired during Amore’s own healing journey in dealing with a rare blood condition.
“As an artist and writer, it is my way of expressing gratitude and returning some of the loving energy that has been bestowed upon me. As we know, art is a language that speaks directly to the viewer,” Amore said.
“My hope is that ‘Arc of Healing Hands’ will be an accessible sculpture that will be of support to the Tufts multi-cultural community of patients, their families, and staff. I also see it as a celebration of the Tufts philosophy and culture of providing excellent and compassionate medical care to all its patients,” she added.
Artist, writer and educator Amore is founder of the Carving Studio and Sculpture Center in West Rutland and co-founder of Kokoro Studio Retreat Center in Hubbardton. She has created many public sculptures and installations around the country and abroad. Themes of connections between us and the dignity and extraordinariness of ordinary people run deep in her work.
Amore has worked extensively in stone and stone and metal in her long creative career, including in Carrara, Italy. Her explorations led to working in a range of other media. Her monumental exhibition “Life Line: Filo della vita,” considering seven generations of two families’ stories of immigration from Italy, extended through six galleries at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and has since been a traveling exhibition.
“A lot of my work deals with under-recognized people. … Many of my public art pieces have dealt with honoring lives that have been lived but that have not really had a great deal of recognition, yet that is the way that most of the world lives. Most of us are ordinary people,” Amore said.
A diagnosis of a rare blood condition in January 2019 brought Amore into contact with a community of people she had not previously known. Amore connected with a specialist at Tufts Medical Center. Her doctor was involved in an FDA third phase study for an experimental drug for treatment of amyloidosis.
Amore signed on. The intensive study involved weekly treatments for six months, bi-weekly thereafter. Her response was positive. The medication was approved by the FDA this year.
“I was so astonished at the care that I received at Tufts as part of the study … I felt that I was not just a patient — I was seen as a person, respected, and ‘loved’ in a way. The generosity of spirit still never ceases to amaze me,” Amore said.
Zen meditation practice has long been central to Amore’s life. One evening a healing circle was held for her.
“I couldn’t be there in person, but imagined myself in the center of the circle, as they were meeting. I had this experience of being totally surrounded by love, and a rainbow arc of healing light appeared over me. That was the inspiration for the ‘Arc of Healing Hands,’” she said.
“I had been thinking about making a piece for Tufts as a way of thanking them for the care that I was receiving and this gave me image and form,” she recalled.
She also wrote the poem “Arc of Light” after that meditation.
In recent artwork, Amore has particularly turned to gloves — found gloves — as a medium.
“For me, the gloves are about honoring each individual — not famous individuals, ordinary individuals. Each glove has taken its shape from its owner’s hand. Most of the gloves are anonymous. I usually am collecting them off the streets or receiving donations from friends who have collected them,” Amore said.
Through a slow, labor-intensive process, Amore applies layers of a hardening compound to each glove, preserving its exact gesture and details of its material and structure.
The gloves for “Arc of Healing Hands” were collected from people at the hospital — nurses, doctors, patients, family, friends, and hotel personnel. Amore also used latex gloves to represent the medical profession — stand-ins for the staff.
“It is really fun to be in the hospital corridor and see people stop in front of the ‘Arc.’ They are always curious about the origins of the gloves and are immediately drawn into the piece. It gives viewers something recognizable, something they can relate to. I love making art that brings people together — the world needs more of this kind of energy — an acknowledgement of our commonly shared humanity. Together we are one large family,” she said.
Active in both the Boston and Vermont arts communities, Amore works in Massachusetts in her new loft studio, close to family and Tufts, and also maintains her Benson studio, her base for the last three decades. She writes for the Rutland Herald and Times Argus, Art New England and other sculpture publications. Her new sculpture projects in the works include a “Rose Window” with tin panels, a circle of gloves, and faces printed on silk.
“My hope is to make more pieces like the ‘Arc of Healing Hands’ for public places where they can be seen and hopefully be a source of inspiration and hope for people,” Amore said.
“We live in a very complex world, especially with COVID, and having uplifting art can really make a difference.”
More information about B. Amore, her art and her writing can be found atwww.bamore.comonline.
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