Design for Healing: Considering Form, Light, and Space from a Healthcare Perspective

In this conversation Steve Rossi, Assistant Professor and Sculpture Program Head at St. Joseph’s University, and Lyn Godley, Full Professor of Industrial Design at Thomas Jefferson University discuss their work developing studio art and design pedagogy informed by a healthcare context. Born into a family of makers, Steve Rossi developed an intense appreciation and respect for artistic craft and physical labor through growing up around family members making quilts, knitting blankets, repairing houses, and arranging flowers. He received his BFA from Pratt Institute and his MFA from the State University of New York at New Paltz. His work has been exhibited at the Maguire Museum, the John Michael Kohler Art Center, the Jules Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts, the Wassaic Project, and the public art festival Art in Odd Places among many others. He has participated in artist residencies with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Vermont Studio Center, and was awarded the Sustainable Arts Foundation fellowship at Gallery Aferro. He is currently an Assistant Professor and Sculpture Program Head at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Lyn Godley is a Full Professor of Industrial Design at Thomas Jefferson University, where she has developed a cross-disciplinary curricula in Lighting Design with a focus on light as experience. She is also the Director of the Jefferson Center of Immersive Arts for Health, an initiative to investigate the impact of dynamic light and interactive art on health. She has spoken at national and international conferences on these topics along with lighting design education. In addition to her academic work, she also is a multi-media artist. Her designs, done individually and as a partner of Godley-Schwan have been exhibited internationally and are in numerous international museums and private collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Since 2000, her studio work has focused on merging light and art and the relationship between art, technology, and its impact on the viewer. Her studio practice is linked to her research through integrating dynamic light in artwork that can create a deeper engagement by affecting both the environment and, ultimately, the user.