Art for Healing: Wendy Jachman’s Contribution is Designed to Inspire

In designing the Sandra R. Berman Pavilion, GBMC’s new home for cancer care, medical and architectural leaders agreed they wanted to give infusion patients the best view available: from the second floor of the Pavilion, overlooking the lush hillside. That view now includes a stunning 18’ tall steel ribbon. 

Journey was created by sculptor David Hess for GBMC. When he showed it to his good friend, textile artist Wendy Jachman, she knew right away she wanted to donate it to the Berman Pavilion campaign. From her first glance at Hess’s model, or maquette, she felt connected. 

“The first time I saw David’s maquette, it reminded me of Howard’s tall elegance,” she recalls. Wendy’s late husband, Howard Jachman, passed away 16 years ago. “I was glad for another opportunity to honor him.” The family also dedicated the Howard Jachman Den at Sinai Hospital. 

The sculpture awoke something new in Wendy. “I carried sadness for a long time,” she explains. “I’m ready to do something joyful. To remember him when he was younger, not when he was sick.” A lifelong athlete, Howard carried himself with grace, especially on the playing field. The tall, slender silhouette of the sculpture brought all of that back. 

As personal as her initial response was, Wendy made her gift to purchase the sculpture for GBMC as a gift to cancer patients and their caregivers. “It is therapeutic to be around art,” she says. “Cancer patients often are looking for a more soulful connection. I hope this is inspiring for them and for their caregivers.” 

Wendy has dedicated much of her own work to pieces designed to elevate the spirit. Her tapestries hang in spiritual and health care centers, from Duke University's Freeman Center for Jewish Life to the Art Collection at Sheppard Pratt. 

A lifelong textile artist, Wendy embraced the medium as a young child. Her creativity was nurtured in Saturday morning classes at Maryland Institute College of Art. She went on to complete a degree in textile design at Syracuse University. Her father collected art and encouraged both her artwork and her involvement in his real estate development business. 

Along the way, a love of color has been a constant. “All the colors together form light,” she says. “You see it in a prism when the light is refracted. And light is divine to me. It’s connected to the metaphysical world, which I think everyone relates to – not in a tangible way, but in feelings of calm and serenity.” 

Her deep appreciation for light and color illustrates one more way the graceful steel ribbon, which David Hess has titled, Journey, is especially meaningful. Once programming is complete, the installation will feature colored lights, timed to bathe the ribbon in shades that symbolize and draw awareness to various forms of cancer. 

A sign at the base of the ribbon sums up its meaning to Wendy and her sons: “This sculpture was donated in memory of Howard R. Jachman by his loving family. You will always be in our hearts and our light.”