Just off the entrance of the School of Osteopathic Medicine’s main building, a vibrant, glossy painting welcomes all who enter. “Soaring and Serving” by artist Lucy Peveto was the first work of art commissioned for the school. It was donated by UIW Board of Trustees member John Peveto and his spouse Bonnie – also the artist’s mother- and father-in-law.
The 6-foot by 6-foot piece, with its cool blue tones and fluttering butterflies, offers passersby an opportunity for a moment of pause to contemplate something beautiful – surely welcome during otherwise hectic days of challenging academics.
“Soaring and Serving” is a mixed media artwork created using epoxy resin on a wooden surface as opposed to canvas. Peveto’s technique incorporates paper appliques to provide texture and a blowtorch to create the shiny, glass-like surface, one of her trademarks. Another is the use of real, natural butterflies from Mexico and Indonesia. The butterflies she uses have lived a full life and are not bred to be killed, she says.
“I always use butterflies in my work,” says Lucy. “I was an attorney for eight years, and they represent my second career.”
UIW Vice President for Institutional Advancement Sr. Kathleen Coughlin, CCVI, Bonnie Peveto, Trustee John Peveto, Lucy Peveto and UIWSOM Founding Dean Dr. Robyn Phillips-Madson
Transformation is at the heart of many of Peveto’s works, another reason “Soaring and Serving” is so fitting in the UIWSOM, where students are undergoing their own metamorphosis. Students who arrive eager to learn about their chosen profession may exit fundamentally changed. Not only will they be academically ready to meet the challenges of the next phase of their medical careers, but they’ll be strengthened by the Mission to be compassionate caregivers.
Among the larger butterflies in vibrant blue and graphic black and white are two diminutive butterflies with striking red and black wings, chosen as a deliberate nod to UIW colors.
Peveto’s works have been featured across the Southwest, Florida and Hawaii including at the AnArte Gallery in San Antonio, New River Fine Art in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Corazon Contemporary in Santa Fe, N.M. and now too at UIWSOM.
