Harnessing the healing qualities of art in the name of health, the UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine, or AIM, program presents patients with the opportunity to cope with the overwhelming emotions that come with living with a serious illness. Whether through music, writing, dance or visual arts, volunteers and artists from the community collaborate with staff, families and patients to bring to life the patient’s vision and strengthen his or her sense of control. Moreover, Arts in Medicine fosters a unique bond between artist and patient.

Teen artist and UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital patient Kinsey Bogart found her perfect balance of comfort and fun when she combined her talents with the expertise of Sarah Hinds, AIM artist-in-residence.

“Kinsey is inspiring,” Hinds said. “She’s steadfast in her positivity and creativity. She never says no to making art. She’s just amazing.”

Kinsey has been coming to UF Health Shands since she was 8 months old. Thanks to the Arts in Medicine program, she learned to paint — a passion that has blossomed into her very own published coloring book. For the past several years, the duo has had one-on-one bedside art sessions as well as regular Wednesday meetings while Kinsey goes through dialysis. This evolved into a project that spanned over the course of months, where the pair curated about 20 pieces of artwork for her coloring book.

Ricky Kendall, another AIM artist-in-residence, digitally transformed Kinsey’s original paintings into black and white coloring pages. About 2,000 copies have been printed, and the book has been distributed throughout the hospitals.

Pages from “My Vibrant Island: A Coloring Book by Kinsey Bogart” are available for download and print.

You can email artsinmedicine@shands.ufl.edu to share your masterpieces with the artist!