Hi! My name is Megan Stuart, welcome to my art page. I am glad you are here!
I have been creative my whole life, but my passion for painting blossomed my junior year of high school. I spent a majority of my senior year in front of my easel in the classroom, creating a large senior exhibition that was awarded a top 100 gallery showing and scholarship. But my love towards medicine led me to a biology major at South Dakota State University. In my sophomore year that I just couldn’t stay away from my art. Creating helped me manage the stress of college basketball and the course load of a pre-professional program. It also helped me cope and re-center myself, and I started to find how art not only made me a better person, but I could find ways to help others around me as well.
I believe that one of the major responsibilities of artists is to help people not only get to know and understand something with their minds but also to feel it emotionally and physically. Art can heal, inspire, spark engagement and create deeper connections. All of which are important aspects of providing optimal patient care.
I discovered arts in healthcare during an art therapy internship at Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D. We developed a program in the Cancer Center where we would paint the cancer radiation treatment masks for pediatric patients to look like their favorite superhero. By painting patients masks, I was able to transform the emotional connotations of the mask into something more positive, and empower each patient to face their fears. I connected people to the healing power of arts at key moments in their lives. As an Artist at Sanford, I listened to stories of loss, sadness, mental illness, and also stories full of hope and joy, all while doing art with patients and families. This was a remarkable experience for me in finding my career path. After finishing two summers as an artist in residence during my junior and senior year of college, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in healthcare and in order to make an impact as remarkable as being an artist at Sanford Hospital.
I am currently attending the University of South Dakota for my Master of Physician Assistant Studies. My ultimate career goal would be to bring art back into my practice and continue to use my passion again in a healthcare setting. The intersection of medicine and the arts has shown me how healing is a holistic process. I hope to continue to find ways that art can empower my patients and impact the world around me.