LIVE ART MURAL PAINTING AT NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MEDICINE
BIOGRAPHIES OF NCD ARTISTS
ANDREINA DAVILA
Andreina is a Berkeley-based artist from Venezuela. She co-founded the Diabetes Hands Foundation
(DHF), a non-profit organization that connects people touch by diabetes and raises diabetes awareness.
For the last 4 years she has split her time between art practice and her role as a creative director for
DHF. Responsible for the art direction and creative vision behind diabetes awareness programs like
Word in Your Hand, Diabetes Supplies Art, No-Sugar Added Poetry and the Big Blue Test, Andreina also
develops and implements branding and design strategies for TuDiabetes.org and EsTuDiabetes.org.
Evolving over time with a few recurring elements, her paintings explore the relationship between life
and movement. Statement: “Alive and changing, my work is evolving. Life is a gradual process of change,
as so paintings, frozen in time, could capture that organic process. That is what I want my art to be.”
JEREMIAH KYLE DRAKE
Jeremiah Kyle Drake hails from Syracuse, New York and upon graduating high school enlisted in the U.S.
Army where he served honorably with the 82nd Airborne Division Paratroops at Fort Bragg North
Carolina. After discharge, Jeremiah used the GI Bill to attend Los Angeles City College where he majored
in classical singing. Since childhood Jeremiah has "assembled" and taken apart objects out of curiosity
but also to make toys. This activity eventually became his "found object art.” His visual arts based
Restoring the Icon Project, assists cancer patients as well as disfigured victims of social and domestic
violence by linking them to top physicians and plastic and reconstructive surgeons who provide their
services on a pro-bono basis. Jeremiah believes that the "aesthetic energy" inherent in all art can be
harnessed and focused onto social issues which can then be transformative leading to improved lives for
all.
WILHELMINA OBATOLA GRANT
A visual artist and native New Yorker, Wilhelmina creates collages and assemblages using mixed-media
and found objects which she repurposes into visual art. Many of the ideas that stimulate the creation of
her work are reflective of her interpretations of contemporary social concerns, namely: urban issues,
violence against women and breast cancer awareness. In 2010, Wilhelmina was honoured with three
prestigious awards for art. Her most recent artistic endeavours include recreational activities using art to
nurture the creativity of cancer survivors in a hospital setting. In 2009 Wilhelmina founded SISTAAH, Inc.
(Survivors Inspiring Sisters Through Art and Advocacy for Health), an arts-based non-profit organization
which seeks to inform, encourage and facilitate access to early detection of breast cancer by connecting
the medically underserved to free screening services.
REGINA HOLLIDAY
Regina Holliday is a medical advocate artist from Washington, D.C. Her journey began after her husband
Fred was hospitalized due to extreme pain. Fred lost his life to kidney cancer, but never lost hope that
patients and caregivers can help make the system better for other families. Regina uses her personal
experience to promote reform and patient rights. She shares the importance of Healthcare Information
Technology and the positive effect it can have on the lives of patients. Regina uses parley and paint:
speaking at conferences and using her artistic abilities to show the desperate need for change in the
current healthcare system.
LEE ANN THILL
Lee Ann Thill, MA, ATR-BC, LPC is an art therapist with a private practice in Jenkintown, PA, where she
provides services to people with medical illness, specializing in diabetes related psychological issues. She
is also Adjunct Professor of Art Therapy at Holy Family University in Philadelphia, and a doctoral student
in Expressive Therapies at Lesley University in Boston, whose research focuses on art therapy and type 1
diabetes. Lee Ann is active in social media as organizer and facilitator of Diabetes Art Day, a web-based
arts and health initiative, and patient health blogger at The Butter Compartment. As an artist, Lee Ann
works in acrylic paint and mixed media, relying on play and experimentation with materials to explore
diabetes, personal loss, femininity, and sensuality.