The IU Eskenazi Museum of Art has established a partnership with IU Health to bring IU student artists' work to the Bloomington Hospital.
IU student art is selected annually for display at IU Health Bloomington Hospital’s Regional Academic Health Center to be enjoyed by visitors and staff.
I believe that we are all part of the same being, the planet Earth. Our health is dependent on our relationship with, and within, that greater being. For that reason, my work interweaves the natural world with the human figure, seeing them as analogous systems.
My work is deeply place-based. I begin painting outdoors, sketching land and water with pastels and layers of diaphanous paint. As I continue to work, I improvise. Recognizable forms deteriorate and reseed themselves. Images of humans, such as the female figure in the lower left corner of this painting, emerge from the flux.
In my work, natural elements represent beauty and truth, while untruths are represented by man-made objects and human detritus. I worry that humans’ use of technology has led us to a false sense of stability and control. My art seeks to return our attention to the natural world, which is not static, but changeable and fluid. Recognizing ourselves within the landscape, we open ourselves to the awe of being alive—both in our own bodies and on our planet.
Bridget W. O’Brien (b. 1997) is a Canadian-American painter living and working in Bloomington, Indiana. She is currently an MFA candidate at Indiana University (2026). She received her BFA in painting from Indiana University-Purdue University and Seoul Women’s University in 2020. After the pandemic settled, she did a post-baccalaureate at the New York Academy of Art. She works primarily with oil, acrylic, and pastel. When she's not painting, she is tromping through the woods, and snuggling her dog.
