2013 CUMC Art Show Now Open

Over the past three years, the CUMC Art Show has become a much-anticipated annual event, with hundreds of paintings, photographs, and sculptures created by students, faculty, and staff on display.

More: Neighborhood Seniors Tour CUMC Art Show

But art shows at CUMC are not new. Starting in 1951, students and employees of the health science schools at Columbia and Presbyterian Hospital displayed their artworks in an annual exhibit, complete with "Best in Show" awards. It is unclear when these shows ended, but Archives and Special Collections can find no mention of the shows after 1993.

In 2010, P&S student Nicholas Colacchio (now a resident in orthopedic surgery at Tufts Medical Center) revived the tradition with Robert Sideli, MD, associate clinical professor of biomedical informatics and CUMC Chief Information Officer.

More: Nick Colacchio: The Sculptor as a Doctor

This year the Art Show features 230 works of art by 69 CUMC artists. The show runs until early July, with art displayed throughout the lower levels of Hammer. Cast your vote for "Best in Show" by June 30; ballots are available on LL1 outside room 104. The top 50 vote-getters will remain on display in Hammer until the 2014 show.

Columbia medical student Bard Cosman, MD'55, with his statue, "Icarus"

Faculty members gather around the statue "Icarus" by student Bard Cosman, MD'55. Cosman went on to have a distinguished dual career as a plastic surgeon and a sculptor.