"Angels Are Everywhere" Book
Angels are Everywhere features angels created by patients and siblings at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. The book sells for $15 with all of the proceeds benefiting Child and Family Life. For more information contact Community Relations: (734)764-6874.
The project started as a holiday activity when patients and siblings created angels for a holiday display. Producing the artwork took over six months. The young artists represent the entire patient population in this multi-faceted hospital including patients who were undergoing cancer treatments, bone marrow transplants, heart and kidney transplants, general surgery, rehabilitation, as well as treatment for cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, diabetes and other chronic illnesses.
Each child was asked to create an angel that represented one of his or her own interests. The diverse angels range from The Angel of Hope to the Angel of Hot Air Balloons and the Angel of Justice to the Angel of Shoes. The media they used were equally diverse. They included styrofoam, clothes pins, wooden balls, fabric, felt, yarn, acrylic paint, markers, jewels and sequins, feathers and bows, flowers and assorted oddments. The children were equally creative in their choice of materials and even included medical supplies that they found in their rooms.
Artist-in-Residence Adrienne Rudolph who organized the angel project and subsequently the book says, “My agreement with the children was to borrow their artwork for the duration of the holiday season so that they could festoon our huge holiday tree. But, when the time came to give back the angels, I couldn’t bear to separate them from each other. In order to keep our promise to the children and to keep this large family of angels together permanently, the idea of this book was born. So, I asked our patients to collaborate on painting twenty-nine backgrounds for the angels and then everything was assembled and photographed to produce this “heavenly” result.”
Most of the angels have been returned to the children who created them; but, sadly, some angels have been returned to the families of children who did not survive to see the book. The importance of this artwork and the book it became is immeasurable to all of our families. It represents to all of them a time during their children’s ordeal when they rose above their physical limitations and created something truly special…an expression of the delight of childhood.
With an enormous amount of gratitude and love, we at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital thank our patients for their creativity and their courage.
