Andrea Eberbach for the Art of Healing
an interview withAndrea Eberbach
Tell us about your recent mural project. This project began as a request from Dr. Nasser Hanna at the IU Simon Cancer Center who was updating his clinic area and wanted art pieces on the walls. His request was to create a mural that contained images of Indiana and of the staff and families at the IU Simon Cancer Center. They wanted the piece to speak of Indiana and also the caring environment of the center. I discovered that most of the patients that come to this facility do not live in the area. Many travel distances to seek treatment here.
What fueled the direction knowing your client’s expectations? One of the purposes of this mural was to casually relax its viewer as they waited to be seen by the medical staff. Since the art has so many elements, another purpose was to allow the viewer to discover new visuals in the art narrative and act as a sort of "entertainment".
Sounds like a lot of content. How did you approach the process of understanding your client’s needs? Dr. Nasser Hanna and I had several meetings chatting about what he wanted to see in this mural. He also gave me free reign and encouraged me to let the artwork unfold. Establishing a great partnership, we worked through a process of several sketch ideas before putting the elements together to create the narrative.
Beautiful sketches! Has your approach to illustration, process or inspiration changed in the last couple years? As you can see in my process, I really enjoy working in partnership and teaming with an art director. There is a certain synergy that occurs when people collaborate. I’m finding my approach toward my art is focused more on the narrative. Even simplifying the content of individual images as much as possible. I usually have to fight against the urge to overstate things.
