Wenwen Liao | Childlike Innocence

Inspire Arts, an arts enrichment and engagement program for the patients, visitors, and community of Hennepin Healthcare, is pleased to present a solo show of paintings by local artist Wenwen Liao. Titled “Childlike Innocence”, twenty original watercolor paintings on paper by local artist Wenwen Liao feature a modernized version of traditional Chinese ink and wash painting. The artist portrays the world as seen through the eyes of children, a naïve but affectionate vision of friendship, animals, and beautiful nature around them.

Says the artist, “My art uses colors to create tranquil moments of childhood innocence. A feeling of warm and loving painting that is full of positive energy and kindness which I attempt to bring to the viewers. I tried to modernize ink and wash painting techniques because I felt they could portray beauty but the traditional themes did not give a personal connection to the viewer.”

The artist grew up in a seaside city in the south of China and studied animation and film at the Central Academy of Beijing. She came to the United States and attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) where she earned a Master of Fine Arts.

Inspire Arts previously purchased three pieces of Liao’s artwork for Hennepin Healthcare’s Redleaf Center for Family Healing that opened in 2021. For the Redleaf Center, as well as our recently reopened East Lake Clinic that was destroyed during the riots of 2020, we sought out original art from the direct neighborhoods first, then broader Minneapolis with a priority on BIPOC artists. Over ninety pieces of artwork were installed in the two locations, nearly all of which were purchased from local artists and now part of our permanent collection of healing art. In an effort to further support these artists, our exhibits in the next year will feature artists whose work was purchased for these projects.

Arts in Healthcare is a diverse, multidisciplinary field dedicated to transforming the healthcare experience by connecting people with the power of the arts at key moments in their lives. This rapidly growing field integrates the arts, including literary, performing and visual arts and design, into a wide variety of healthcare and community settings for therapeutic, educational and expressive purposes.

The exhibit runs through May 15, 2022 in Hennepin County Medical Center’s Red Building skyway gallery (level 2). It is presented by our Inspire Arts program that seeks to promote a healing environment through art that helps reduce the stress and anxiety often associated with health care environments.  A variety of services such as music, visual arts, and performing arts are intended to improve morale, build hope, inspire creativity, and reflect the diversity of our community.  For more information about this exhibit or other Inspire Arts activities, email wenda.ballinger@hcmed.org.  Inspire Arts exhibits are made possible by the financial support of many individuals and community organizations through designated gifts to Hennepin Healthcare Foundation.

QUOTE: “I want to create a feeling of peacefulness in the people that view my art. There is so much chaos in the world and I want my work to be a place where they can take a break and find themselves. My paintings are portrayals of the world as seen from the eyes of children.” Artist Wenwen Liao

HCMC Red Building, Level 2 (skyway)

730 S. 8th St., Minneapolis

Free and open to the public 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. daily. Masks required. In times of COVID spikes in the community, access may be limited. Enter campus at the Red Building entrance on 8th Street, next to the Emergency Department.