Penn Medicine nurse leans on art as she weaves her way through life, health care

"A Philadelphia nurse is sharing the power of art, weaving her way through life as an artist and health care provider. Taking care of people and knowing about their medical conditions supplies this nurse with all kinds of ideas for her art. Weaving, creating art - this is what Linda Ruggiero does when she's not working as a nurse at Penn Medicine."

""I definitely get my inspiration a lot from those experiences in the lab and in other areas of nursing," Ruggiero said. In the cardiac catheterization lab, she was inspired by all the tubing and stents. She explains this creation, depicting what happens when there's a troubled artery. The heart is such a great metaphor for artwork and for opening up and healing and life," Ruggiero said. "And so it was sort of easy to make that connection.""

"Early in her nursing career, COVID hit, and Penn was bombarded with sick and dying patients. Ruggiero was on the front lines at the hospital. "It was terrible and it was so heartbreaking," she said, "and it just felt like it wouldn't stop." Making art became her salvation during those dark days of the pandemic. "The piece is called 'Contained' because we have this sense of trying to contain this virus that really was not contained at all in any form," Ruggiero said."

Linda Ruggiero is a Philadelphia nurse and artist who weaves textile pieces inspired by medical experiences. Clinical work, including time in the cardiac catheterization lab, informs motifs such as tubing, stents, and troubled arteries. The heart appears as a recurring metaphor for opening, healing, and life. A background in neuroscience research preceded a nursing career begun seven years ago. Frontline caregiving during the COVID-19 surge brought traumatic exposure to sick and dying patients; creating art provided emotional salvage, exemplified by works titled 'Contained' that represent attempts to control a chaotic virus. Recent work focuses on patients and families affected by gun violence and drug addiction.

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