Artists & Communities projects helped to build and sustain healthy neighborhoods by developing participants' sense of identity and connection to their communities.

Bradford County Regional Arts Council
Towanda, Pennsylvania
Brooks Eldredge Martin, Executive Director
Robert Possehl, Environmental Artist

The site-specific labyrinths designed by environmental artist Robert Possehl during his Artists & Communities project with the Bradford County Regional Arts Council (BRAC) helped communities and organizations throughout Pennsylvania's Northern Tier region discover how the process of creation can provide new pathways to well-being and an experience of community.



Tyler Memorial Hospital Bereavement Circle design. All labyrinths © Robert Possehl 2000.
BRAC Executive Director Brooks Eldredge Martin says that, through this project, "Arts organizations…hospitals…museums…community centers…[all] got removed from their typical box, and got to step out a little bit and do a project together with their communities…."

Possehl's designs were all created with particular benefits in mind. At Tyler Memorial Hospital, "The design was created to enhance a space that did not look appealing or health-promoting to me," Possehl continues. "They [had] a patio garden where the trees were allowed to just stand there and die - little symbols. You know, when we surround ourselves with that kind of stuff that's kind of what we are…The criteria I was able to get them to speak to was, 'Who would use this?' They had a bereavement program, and that seemed to be where the hospital saw the best use for [the labyrinth installation]…They could see it in relationship to a bereavement program, to help the community…The design reflects the stages of emotion about bereavement, but it could also be seen as a testament to healing and the resiliency of human life…I considered the beginning of life in my design because babies are also being born there…I hope that I came up with something that would make that space feel healthier."

Sawdust labyrinth in progress at Keystone Theatre. All labyrinths © Robert Possehl 2000.
Another of Possehl's designs, for the Tree of Life Native American Retreat Center, embodied the Native American traditions of the host community and involved participants from across the country. Eldredge Martin explains: "Native Americans…already have a culture that was used to meditative, natural experiences [and] a long tradition of walking a medicine wheel…so for them to embrace the labyrinth was very natural…People would spend lots of time working on it…and my experience is when you work on this kind of thing, you're at some level meditating as you do it. People brought stones and special things…[to contribute]."



Labyrinth at French Asylum, Wysox, PA. All labyrinths © Robert Possehl 2000.
For Eldredge Martin, "Having arts as a part of community life is a sign of a healthy community. It means that people are paying attention to the well-being or the health of their community…providing an opportunity to experience the joy, the uplifting emotions that come from new experiences and new communication between people."

Additional samples of "Health" projects are included in the book, Artists & Communities: America Creates for the Millenium.