E11, Pt1: Close observation, empathy and compassion with Bonnie Pitman, Director of Art-Brain Innovation at UT Dallas Center for BrainHealth

MuseumX: Designing Experiences for Good

How does close observation lead to empathy and compassion? This week, we’re honored to hear from Bonnie Pitman, a national leader in education and the public engagement of art, who has been a thinker and a doer on the bleeding edge of arts education and engagement for 40 years.

After a long career in art museums, Bonnie is now working on ways to cultivate empathy and compassion through viewing art. Her Power of Observation Framework™ was developed in part to guide medical students using a process of close observation leading to a sustainable practice of empathy and compassion for patients. In this episode we hear multiple examples of how the Framework may be applied, as well as its uses in museum spaces.

Through this work, Bonnie has also created a daily practice to "Do Something New", which invites the exploration and celebration of making an ordinary day extraordinary while dealing with her own chronic illness.

Links to resources discussed in the episode

1990s watershed report: Excellence and Equity: Education and the Public Dimension of Museums

Book: Igniting the Power of Art

The Power of Observation™ - lecture

The Power of Observation™ - framework

UT Dallas - Center for Brain Health

Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History at UT Dallas

JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association, Pharma Art—Abstract Medication in the Work of Beverly Fishman

Sharon Salzberg, Bonnie’s teacher for loving kindness meditation

Nasher Museum

Do Something New - Instagram @BonniePitman