GVSU professor and students alleviate pediatric patient fear through art

Artists are often their worst critics. Creations may not be quite to the standard set in their mind's eye. Maybe the artist wanted to touch up a corner or change the shading on a section. Whatever the reason, artists can publish their work without feeling fully satisfied.

When Paul Yu, professor of mathematics, saw the murals and scaled structures he helped create for Little Red Pediatric Dentistry in Holland, things felt right.

“When it’s all pieced together, I'm satisfied,” said Yu. “I put it up and I’ll think, 'That’s what it’s supposed to look like.'”

Art has always been a part of Yu's work. While he was pursuing graduate and doctoral degrees, he was incorporating art into his study. In this work, Yu applies both passions together.

Throughout the dentist's office are murals and scaled structures designed to help pediatric patients alleviate their anxiety in the office. A large, red lighthouse greets the patients as they walk into the building.

In the treatment area, young patients can climb into a wooden, green and gold trolley car while their parents wait on one of the station’s benches. In the dentist's chair, they are able to look around and see buildings from around Holland lining the walls alongside paintings of tulips and other flowers from varying seasons. In the corner is a scaled recreation of the De Zwann windmill in Holland, complete with copper tiling on its top.

Many of these murals and installations are interactive with the patients. Several hygienists laughed while telling Yu that some patients have already successfully climbed into the windmill through a small doorframe. Parts of the installation can be disassembled and seasonal scenes can be inserted before being placed back on the wall.

Yu credits the feeling of satisfaction to the intense level of collaboration involved in creating the art for the dentist's office. Over the years, he has taken on summer projects as a contractor, creating art installations for various pediatric offices around West Michigan.

Little Red Pediatric Dentistry is one of Yu’s returning clients. However, when they called Yu to provide art installations for the new building, he knew the scale was too great for him to handle on his own.

Yu assembles an interdisciplinary team at GVSU

Yu asked Cynthia Tripp, a local artist with whom he had collaborated on prior projects, to collaborate on a design plan for the murals and art structures. However, Tripp was not available for the whole process, and Yu needed more help.

While doing landscaping work, he ran into the mother of Lara Hinze, one of his former students. Hinze, an art education student, took Yu's trigonometry course when she was at Grand Valley. As Yu spoke with Hinze's mother, he learned that Hinze was entering student teaching for her final year at GVSU, but that she was looking for a summer job involving art.

“I said, 'See if she is interested, and I will hire her right now,'” Yu said. “It was this really wonderful, serendipitous moment that Lara and I could reconnect in a different context.”

Hinze's painting skills were exactly what Yu needed. Hinze stepped in and painted the trees and other flowers on the walls, as well as helping to put fine detail on the windmill replica.

Hinze, who is currently student teaching at Wyoming High School, said she jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with Yu, and that she plans on applying what she learned to the classrooms she teaches in.

“Having the real-world application of how to collaborate with other artists is a key element we teach students. Having this opportunity helps me put into perspective how the actual process goes,” she said.

Alongside Hinze, Yu also called upon Rylan Bernhardt, a graduate student studying electrical and computer engineering and a visiting faculty member at Grand Valley. With Bernhardt's expertise, the team was able to achieve the detail, precision and efficiency they wanted.

Bernhardt created programs and designs for 3D printing, laser cutting and computer numerical control work. Through these technologies, Bernhardt provided Yu with precision-cut panes for windows, to the fraction of an inch shapes and frames, as well as detailed cutting of wood panels to create a brick-like appearance.

“Seeing something so tangible, I see products come to life, but I never see them get utilized in an art aspect. It was really cool to see it all come together,” Bernhardt said.

Working together took coordination. After the design was finished, Yu would send it to Bernhardt with the specifications he needed. Bernhardt would then create the program to generate whatever component was needed. He then passed it off to Hinze, who painted it. She then gave it back to Yu, who added more touches and then took it to the dentist's office to install. Once it was mounted, Hinze came back in and added the final touches of paint.

Much of the work was done by early fall, giving the team a sense of accomplishment.

“I've never worked on anything of this scale before,” said Hinze. “Just seeing my painting on display in the entire building is really special.”

“It's really fun to go back to those roots, especially just before starting my teaching here,” said Bernahrdt. “Having this experience helped me re-open that side of my brain that I haven’t used in a little bit.”

Yu's work is not quite done. The office asked him to create an installation for a treatment room designed specifically for patients with special needs. He said he anticipates he will be done by the end of fall.