Art is Care: Reflections from the Expanding Capacities of Care Symposium

Last week, I attended the Expanding Capacities of Care Symposium, a gathering of faculty from Penn State, Pitt, and Carnegie Mellon. Held at the Penn State Franco Harris Pittsburgh Center, the goal of the symposium was to spark interdisciplinary conversations about how the arts can support care.

Swag bags are always fun, but look at these adorable stickers from Penn State wellness?

We had artists, designers, medical professionals, ethicists, and educators — all coming together to explore how creative practice impacts health and wellbeing. This symposium is just one part of a larger research initiative, jointly supported by Penn State’s College of Arts & Architecture and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

The central question behind the overarching research initiative and the guiding question of the symposium is:

How can we expand our capacities for care?

This is especially important in helping professions like nursing, medicine, teaching, and counseling — where burnout is real, and rising.

A week later, I’m still reflecting on the conversations. The day was rich with thoughtful dialogue, inspiring connections, and some much-needed reminders about the power of care — in both personal and community-driven ways.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the word care and what it really means in our lives. Do I use it often? Honestly, I probably hear it most from my 16-year-old son when he says, “I don’t care.” And of course, there’s the idea of self-care (for a great book on that, check out Real Self-Care by Dr. Pooja Lakshmin). I think about caring for my son, my loved ones — but I hadn’t really thought about creating or teaching art as a form of care.

When we talk about “care” more formally, we can define it as:

The intentional act of tending to wellbeing — our own or others’.

And when we consider what we know from neuroaesthetics — that participating in the arts, whether as a creator or observer, supports both mental and physical health — it becomes clear: art-making is care. And that teaching art is care. Gathering in creative community is care.

A symposium on art and caring wouldn't be complete without creating some art. These are my creations. So enjoyable to draw and think about how to weave art into teaching and how to improve my classes for Kaleidoscope PA!

There’s a quiet but powerful movement happening right now, across art, education, and healthcare. It’s built around this truth: The arts matter deeply in how we care for ourselves and others.

During the symposium, we were introduced to a framework of five interlinked types of care (outlined on the Capacities of Care website):

• Self-care: attending to our own wellbeing

• Caregiving: offering support to others

• Care receiving: allowing ourselves to receive care

• Community care: shared acts of support within groups

• Artificial care: the role of technology and nonhuman systems in wellness

  
  

This framework really hit home for me. I’ve always known that Kaleidoscope PA is about more than painting, but I didn’t quite have the language for it — until now. This framework helped me name something I’ve felt all along: that creating art in community is caregiving, and it’s also community care. I have been calling Kaleidoscope PA an "art/wellness community" without really understanding the research and different perspectives of community care. When someone sits down with a brush at one of my workshops, they’re engaging in their own self-care.

I left the symposium with great connections, deeper questions, and renewed excitement about integrating care more fully into my work. What is exciting to me is the realization that Kaleidoscope PA is my way of participating in this movement — of using art to care for my community. I’m committed to keep showing up, brush in hand, as part of something that’s blooming, necessary, and deeply human. Especially in today's world where technology is so prevalent...and AI is an ever-growing force, the act of creating together in person feels simple… and yet, so special.

So, what are you doing to care for yourself today? Yes, eat healthy, take a walk, meditate…But also — pick up a paintbrush or a pencil. Draw something. Write something. Sing. It’s good for you. And then call a friend. Sit beside someone you love. And create together.

Because that, too, is care.

Art created by the group during the Symposium