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Clinic Picks Creative Gift

Tampa Tribune photo by Chris Urso

Mary Sears, center, greets well wishers during a dedication of a new art studio space Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008 in Zephyrhills. The new studio was presented to Sears who teaches art classes to cancer patients at Florida Medical Clinic. The new studio is titled Mary Sears Healing Arts Studio.

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By MEGAN HUSSEY

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 21, 2008

ZEPHYRHILLS - For the past four years, art teacher Mary Sears has brought healing arts to the cancer patients of Florida Medical Clinic in Zephyrhills, offering weekly art classes just for them. Now the center's Foundation of Caring, in association with Century 21 Bill Nye Realty, is repaying the favor.

Wednesday, the center hosted the grand opening of the Mary Sears Healing Arts Studio at 38036 Market Square in Zephyrhills. It's a 1,300-square-foot facility with an expansive classroom area, complete with tables, padded chairs, a teacher's desk and a large supply room with easels, sketchpads and other supplies funded by the Foundation of Caring.

The grand opening also was a surprise birthday party and barbecue for Sears - with lunch sponsored by Fran King, AstraZeneca pharmaceutical rep, and catered by Carlos Catering. Sears, who celebrates her birthday Sunday, was not told ahead of time about the studio. After introductory remarks from Sheri Schwab, president of the Florida Medical Clinic Foundation of Caring, Sears was invited to be the first to step across the threshold of the new studio.

"Students, let's go home," she said, holding out her hand to patients.

Four years ago, Sears was a recovering breast cancer patient who wanted to do something special for Florida Medical Clinic, where she was successfully treated.

"She wanted to give back," Schwab said. "Since the center cared for the patients physically, she wanted to do something for the spirit."

After painting a portrait that now hangs in the oncology unit at Florida Medical Clinic, Sears began to teach art at the facility. She now teaches about 40 cancer patients and their family members.

"Her classes kept getting bigger," Schwab said.

Eventually, Florida Medical Clinic CEO Joe Delatorre saw the need to provide a studio for Sears and her classes.

"Previously, we had all the students in the conference room, and sometimes we had to move them if we had another event," said Heather Baker, marketing assistant at Florida Medical Clinic. "We wanted to open a studio where she can have the class any day of the week, and have more students."

The refurbishment of the building, which previously housed Ron's Deli, took about five months. As Sears walked across a welcome mat that read "Creativity Lives Here," she indicated that she was pleased with the results.

"Isn't this magnificent?" she said as her eyes scanned the walls of the studio, which were lined with her students' artwork. "This is an artist's dream come true."

According to 90-year-old Mill Barr, who has been a student of Sears for a year and a half, the same can be said of Sears.

"I think she's the best teacher I've met, and I'm a retired teacher," she said. "This class is the best thing that's happened to me."

Delatorre also had high praise for Sears.

"You have inspired us all," he told her at Wednesday's opening. "We knew we had to find a place for you, and this is yours."

Other business sponsors for the studio include Bahr's Propane Gas and A/C, Chuck Owens, Mary King Graphix, Sunstate Aluminum, Till Office Equipment, Today Graphics Inc. and Terry Youngblood Inc.

In Sears' mind, the class and the studio truly belong to her students.

"I once had a cancer patient tell me that the day of my class is the favorite part of the week, because it's the one day she forgets she has cancer," said Sears, adding with her fist raised in the air, "When I heard that I thought, 'Yeah!'"

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