Ginny O'Brien

Ginny O’Brien is a Buffalo, NY-based painter and mixed media artist. She is an arts educator with expertise in the field of arts in health and has practiced as a teaching artist in cultural arts venues and educational institutions. She exhibits her art in solo and group exhibitions locally and nationally, and for over a decade was an education curator for the University at Buffalo Art Galleries. She developed and facilitated art-making programs for diverse audiences focused on permanent collections and temporary exhibitions including workshops linking creativity and wellness for teachers, artists, and healthcare professionals. As an education curator, the artist developed and taught creative arts programs for medical students and those receiving services from various healthcare organizations. Ginny has taught courses in Fiber Arts and Design at Buffalo State College and Daemen College, and for UB developed and led an undergraduate course Clinical Humanities: The Intersection of Healthcare and the Visual Arts. She worked as a visual arts consultant and workshop instructor for UB medical students enrolled in the medical school’s Center for Medical Humanities. Ginny, currently Resident Artist for the Kathleen and Joseph Curatolo Pediatric Visual Arts Program, provides art activities for clinic patients receiving treatment at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. 

Ginny holds a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art, Fibers from Syracuse University, and from Buffalo State College a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Textile Design, and a Master of Arts with concentrations in Textile Design and Art Therapy. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Wichita State University and attended the Kansas City Art Institute studying painting, illustration, and graphic design. Her authored publications and creative works are found in art, education, and health-related journals, including SURFACE DESIGN JOURNAL, Western Humanities Review Literary Magazine, and Family Medicine: Journal for the Society of Teachers in Family Medicine. Ginny’s art can be found in permanent and private collections including the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Special Collections, the University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA;  the Lessedra Art Gallery of Contemporary Bulgarian and International Art, Sofia, Bulgaria; Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY; and Museo La Carale Accattino, Forma E Transforma: An Exhibition of Visual Writing, Ivrea, Italy.   

For more information on the work of Ginny O’Brien, visit her website at https://www.ginnyobrienart.com/