Every weekday, Ann Diggins, director of student affairs and career services, walks by a splash of color that she helped bring to the recently opened Kirk Kerkorian Medical Education Building (MEB). The pop of color, hanging on the third floor of MEB just off the Dr. Barbara Atkinson Forum, is a painting by UNLV art major Ellie Rush titled “Better Together,” a gift from the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV class of 2022.
“The dean and the office of student affairs always intended that there would be a class gift for each of the graduating classes. So the class of 2022, our second graduating class, was the first class that we were able to do that with,” Diggins says.
When it came to deciding what the gift would be – a decision made by a committee of representatives from the medical school, UNLV’s art department, and UNLV main campus – a painting made sense to Diggins.
“I said, ‘Look, I think you should do something inside. There are a lot of walls in that space, and we didn’t know what the plans were for art at the time,” Diggins says.
Thus, the class of 2022 commissioned the first painting to hang in MEB.
Once the committee had decided on gifting a piece of art, they put out a call for submissions for UNLV student artwork, which is how Rush’s friends learned about the competition. Rush says that “friends and friends of friends sent me the opportunity,” and Rush felt inspired to submit her art after learning more about the competition. The call for submissions tasked artists with responding to a theme of their choosing; one of the theme options being “diversity, inclusion, and acceptance.”
The theme resonated with Rush who says, “I really wanted to focus on UNLV being one of the most diverse schools in the country. Particularly, here in Vegas we have so much diversity, generally, but within the medical community, as well. I really wanted to make sure that everyone was represented in some way.”
Armed with inspiration and a paintbrush, Rush got to work capturing the positivity that medical students and professionals bring to their communities, especially within the past several years. Rush says, “Medical professionals really shined during the pandemic. They're the ones treating those who are ill, but they also support their communities emotionally. Likewise, local communities came around to emotionally support them.”
In pale pinks, reds, and blues, Rush’s painting captures these moments of support among a diverse group of doctors, students, and patients.
As she worked on “Better Together,” Rush received guidance from UNLV art professors Sean Slattery and Tim Bavington. “I just have to thank Sean over and over for all of his help with the process and guiding me through a lot of things I was doing for the first time and Tim for letting me nurture that creative side of the project.”
Slattery commends Rush’s piece for its “sophisticated sense of composition.” Slattery says, “She can fill the space with a lot of activity, and yet still you can see that there are all these stories going on in the canvas. The canvas and scope feel calm, not overcrowded.”
Artfully portraying multiple scenes on the canvas represents, according to Slattery, a hopeful future for the school of medicine. Slattery says, “She didn't want to tell just one story because there are so many stories; concentrating on just one story would be a detriment to the future, since there are so many stories coming out – and that will come out – of the school for decades to come.”
Nichole Staker, interior designer and senior project manager in the architecture and interior design department of UNLV planning and construction, also commends Slattery for his help, saying, “Sean was wonderful in his mentorship and even assisted Ellie in building the stretcher for the piece.”
In Staker’s professional opinion, Rush’s painting is a perfect, even necessary, addition to MEB.
Staker says, “I have worked on the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV project since before there was even a hole in the ground as one of the UNLV planning and construction representatives. It has been an incredible pleasure to work with the A/E teams from TSK Architects and see this building come to life. Now, seeing Ellie's work hang within the finished space, everything feels complete. Her piece perfectly complements the building's finishes, and I am so proud of her and all she has accomplished.”
Installed this month, “Better Together” will be admired by MEB occupants and guests for years to come.
As for the class of 2023’s class gift, Diggins says, “We've already started talking with them about what kind of a gift they would like to leave their fellow students in the school as they go out the door."
