Art Exposition Seeks to Show Doctors in a Creative Light

Might there be a budding Vincent van Gogh behind your doctor’s smock? Or maybe an aspiring Emily Dickinson is your family practitioner?

More than 40 physicians at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Woodland Hills showed off their creativity in oil painting, sculpture, photography, poetry, music composition, gardening, collecting and culinary arts in an exhibit called “Physicians Creative Works Exposition.”

The exhibit, which opened Tuesday, continues today from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the medical center, 5601 DeSoto Ave. Planning for the event began two years ago, but was delayed after the Northridge quake struck, organizers said.

Plastic surgeon Stephanie Feldman explained how she started sculpting with clay about two years ago because she thought it would be complimentary to her medical profession.

“Working with different dimensions through sculpture actually improves my work with patients,” said Feldman, who also had some photography at the exhibit.

Dr. Joseph Ruderman, area medical director for Kaiser Permanente, boasted about his green thumb as he stood proudly near the potted pink and cream cymbidium orchids that he brought from his garden. Ruderman, who helped open the medical center in 1982, said the event focused on putting a human face on the medical profession.

“We have no doubt about professional competence, but this helps show patients the doctors have a human side,” he said.

Dr. Sylvan Cohen, a collector of antique microscopes, said, “There is a perception that doctors are idiots or just very narrow and this shows our wide range of intellectual interests.”