Healthcare Spotlight: Galloway Ridge

As a longstanding museum patron and arts professional, I have had the opportunity to experience and curate art in many different contexts. One of the things I love most about working at Museum Exchange is seeing how works can come to life in new settings—whether a museum, healthcare organization, or academic institution. Each presents distinct opportunities and challenges that have to be navigated by the curatorial team. So last year when I was introduced to Roger Berkowitz, a retired art museum director who is the mastermind behind the art collection at the continuing care community Galloway Ridge where he is also a resident, I was fascinated to learn more. In the below interview, Roger has graciously shed more light on the art program that he helped build at his home at Galloway Ridge and how his museum background has informed his thinking around art in a residential wellness setting.

Roger Berkowitz (left) discusses with fellow resident Brenda Schoonover a painting in Galloway Ridge’s collection: Michelle Possum Nungarryi, My Country, 2017, synthetic polymer paint on linen. Collection of Galloway Ridge; Purchased with funds provided by Hugh Cullman, 2020

Joanne Cohen: Can you tell us about Galloway Ridge and its mission? What is a life plan community for those who might not be familiar. Prior to connecting with you, I had not heard of Galloway Ridge.

Roger Berkowitz: Galloway Ridge, located just south of Chapel Hill, NC, is a retirement community with a full continuum of health services including independent and assisted living, as well as nursing and memory care. Medical care for the almost 500 residents is under the direction of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Duke University health clinic is on the premises.

JC: How did you get involved in the art program there? I understand you have an extensive art background.

RB: Shortly after my wife and I moved to Galloway Ridge, a reception area was being renovated and I was asked, as director emeritus of the Toledo Museum of Art with a Ph.D. in the history of art, to acquire some original works of art to be part of the renovation. I was of course most pleased to help.

Being well received by residents and staff, I approached Bob Zimmer, Galloway Ridge’s CEO, about establishing an art fund to replace the current reproductions in public spaces with original works of art. It took almost a year to work out the details with the staff and Board of Directors and to organize a small art advisory committee. As part of this agreement, we were charged to raise our own funds.

JC: What a novel way to parlay your talents and share your skill set with your fellow residents, not to mention employees and visitors! I would have loved that when I was visiting a relative in a similar type of facility. 

How is the collection installed around the facility? Do you do rotating exhibitions or any educational programs? When I worked as the visual art curator at the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale, NY many years ago, we used to organize exhibitions as a way to further engage the community.  

RB: The collection is installed in public spaces, such as reception areas, the cinema lobby, elevator lobbies, and public corridors. No works have been installed in corridors housing resident apartments. 

Once we had a significant core collection, a docent program was formed. Composed of residents who apply for the program, it is led by a talented art historian with a Ph.D. in the history of art from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a paid member of the Galloway Ridge staff and is gifted in both the depth of her knowledge and her ability to teach teachers. The docents lead tours for residents, families, visitors, and staff, as well as outside groups such as museum friends groups, women’s clubs, and alumni associations.

JC: Does Galloway Ridge organize field trips to museums or arts venues in the region? I am wondering if living with art has inspired residents to seek it out elsewhere.

RB: With a highly professional activities staff, Galloway Ridge has long had an established tradition of day trips to view museum exhibitions in Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Durham, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem, as well as occasionally to Charlotte and Richmond.

JC: How many works are in the collection now and how are they selected? Do you have an art committee? 

RB: After about six years, there are almost 500 works in the collection. They were primarily purchased from artists, galleries, and at auction; and we have received a number of gifts through Museum Exchange and other donors. A small art advisory to the executive director was formed and consisted of individuals with varied backgrounds including an artist, interior designer, book conservator, health professional, graphic designer, art museum director, and admiral.

Our goal was to find works of art of “quality” within our price range that would be aesthetically and intellectually accessible to a broad audience and “that while we do not expect everyone to like everything, we do hope that everyone will find something that they like.” Rarely have we spent more than $5,000. The majority of our acquisitions have been under $2,000, and a surprising number under $750. 

JC: Are there specific criteria that you follow or qualities in a work that you look for?

RB: We prepared a published list of criteria for acquiring works for the collection, whether by purchase or gift. These include artists who have been in professionally juried exhibitions and have traceable career histories. The works are to be in good physical condition, to be able to withstand professional judgment in terms of quality, and to be appropriate for the architectural spaces of the building. No works in the collection are to be the products of residents, staff, or their immediate families. While a number of works are by North Carolina artists, we do not limit the collection in terms of geography, medium, or time period. It is always driven by the search for quality. The collection thus includes, for example, fragments of a Pre-columbian weaving and of an 18th century French tapestry, a large Aboriginal painting, and a set of color screen prints by Richard Anuszkiewicz.

JC: What has surprised you about curating a collection for a healthcare facility versus a museum? What does or doesn’t work? 

RB: In order to lead this effort, I had to make huge personal adjustments to my perspective after a thirty-year career of always focusing on the best of the best. My challenge was to find quality in more modestly priced works of art. These works needed to have intellectual substance and an ability to appropriately appeal to an educated, but non-specialist audience. With the exception of the area of memory care, I never thought of the collection as specifically being for a healthcare facility. We just sought to put together an engaging collection of original works of art.

JC: Do you have an acquisition budget? Or do you rely entirely on donations?

RB: This was one of our biggest challenges. We never had an acquisition budget. From the beginning, we had to raise money from fellow residents, who, as it turned out, were extraordinarily generous. Our first milestone was when we had accumulated $20,000. The questions then were whether or not this might be the maximum of what we could raise and whether or not we should spend it now or try to accumulate more. I was personally for saving the money and building a larger kitty. One member of the art advisory was adamant, however, that we buy something now and get some art up on the walls so that residents could see what might be possible with their help. She was absolutely right. Several works were purchased, reproductions were taken down and replaced with these new works of art, and our vision began to form.

The collection proceeded in a manner that was exactly the opposite of good museum practice. We never knew how much money we would have from month-to-month and had to look for works that might resonate with one another after the fact.

To date, we have raised almost $200,000, published a modest booklet with highlights from the collection, have a docent program to make continuous use of the collection, and have developed pocket installations with Inuit art, photorealism, landscape themes, fiber art, animals, botanicals, photography, Japanese prints, OpArt, and architecture.

Bea Nettles, Mining, 2007, digital print, 18 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches. Collection of Galloway Ridge; Gift of the artist.

JC: That is a remarkable story. Congratulations on all your success in getting the program to this point. How has Museum Exchange been a resource for you and your constituents?

RB: Museum Exchange has been nothing less than a gift from the gods. It has provided access to curated works we never would have been able to consider on our own. Some have filled gaps at a high level, others have helped to complete a story or introduce a new medium. We have included on each label that the work was given under the auspices of Museum Exchange. The administration and residents of Galloway Ridge made a commitment to build a collection of original works of art for our facility. Our acceptance by Museum Exchange for this program has not only expanded the horizons of the collection dramatically, but also has served as a recognition of the program’s success.

JC: Have you had any memorable experiences with people interacting with a particular artwork on view?

RB: At least four stories have been particularly inspiring and memorable:

The first was when a resident stopped me during an installation to tell me that he felt that with this collection, Galloway Ridge now felt like home.

The second was a resident who had recently returned from a hospital stay. He told me that when he was in the hospital as a child, he kept thinking about returning home to his train set. This time, he kept thinking about returning to see his favorite works of art.

The third is about a resident who berated me about starting an art collection for Galloway Ridge. He said he did not want to live in a museum, it was a waste of money, and who cared what was on the walls. Last year, he gave us a check for $5,000 to use as a matching challenge to raise further funds for the project. We, in fact, raised $7,000 to match his $5,000.

The fourth was when I contacted a photographer to get more information about a work (from Museum Exchange, in fact) that we had been given. When I finished talking with her about the photograph and our program here, she offered to donate a second photograph so that we would have the pair as originally conceived.

JC: It sounds like you’re far from done. What’s next for the art program at Galloway Ridge?

RB: The most recent aspect of building the collection has focused on areas of the facility that house assisted living, nursing, and memory care. The assisted living area has thus far been hung almost entirely with works of art from Museum Exchange. We wanted the collection in this area to feel as close as possible to that in independent living in order to allow for as smooth an aesthetic transition for residents as possible. Works on the nursing floor have more emphasis on color and have been admired by patients and, equally important, by visitors, nursing staff, and other care providers. Every work that has been installed in memory care can be touched.

We are also developing a program within memory care with in-house staff being trained specifically to use the collection to interact with memory care residents. Working with staff from the Nasher Museum at Duke University and the North Carolina Museum of Art, we are told that we will be the only continuing care facility in North Carolina to have in-house staff trained to do this program.

JC: Roger, it has been delightful getting to work with you. Your knowledge and passion for art is tremendous. No doubt your unique efforts will inspire other similar organizations to embark on meaningful art interactions. We look forward to facilitating more art donations for your engaged audience.