At Stewart’s Caring Place, art is all around.
A large, blue butterfly designed by Kimmy Henderson hangs in the lobby. A colorful painting of the Grand Canyon honoring Carson Higgins adorns a wall in the library. And “Flutter,” a holographic piece by Art x Love co-founder Mac Love, is in the Healing Arts suite.
When Stewart’s Caring Place moved to its current home in Fairlawn in 2020, the goal was to create a space that felt warm and welcoming — not sterile and clinical. The nonprofit provides programs and services to anyone impacted by a cancer diagnosis, all at no cost.
Through a partnership with Akron design agency Art x Love, artwork was installed throughout the building.
“What we found is that after they opened in 2020, people really appreciated the impact the artwork was having,” Love said. “When we started to discuss turning the hallways into a gallery, it was with the idea of basically expanding that same creativity to be very healing-focused.”
The Healing Arts Gallery opened in 2022. The goal of the gallery is twofold, said President and CEO Sarah Vojtek: to promote local artists and to have an area that consistently looks and feels different — whether people are visiting Stewart’s Caring Place every month or if they come back after being away for a year.
“It invites people into our space for a different reason,” Vojtek said. “They can come whenever our doors are open during regular business hours and walk the exhibit just to see it.”
Now in its fourth year, the gallery showcases a mixture of work from mainly local and regional artists. Its most recent exhibit, “Holding Light,” features the work of three Northeast Ohio artists — Care Hanson, Dee Fairweather and Megan Frankenfield.
At Stewart’s Caring Place, art is part of the healing journey
Hanson dabbles in mixed media, but she mainly works with acrylic paints, creating vibrant, layered abstract pieces that evoke scenes from the natural world.
“I tried to find things that were uplifting, which most of my work tends to be colorful and uplifting,” Hanson said of the pieces she selected for the exhibit. “The largest one I have there is ‘Hope Rises.’ That one is a piece that had quite a transformation. A lot of my abstract stuff, I just keep layering until I love it. That was one that really softened up quite a bit.”
Featuring in a show at Stewart’s Caring Place is “extra special” for Hanson. Six years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy. While she didn’t utilize any of the organization’s services at the time, she often heard positive stories about Stewart’s Caring Place, she said.
For Hanson, the act itself is what keeps her painting. She likes the feeling of creating art, the present and all-consuming nature of it.
“Physically and emotionally and mentally, it hits all of those things for me,” Hanson said.
The powerful effects of art and its health benefits are front-of-mind for Vojtek and Stewart’s Caring Place. The nonprofit served 3,600 individuals and families in 2026 across 30 Ohio counties, Vojtek said.
“We know that the research shows that art of any type, but especially visual art, really helps to decrease stress and boosts some levels of serotonin and some of those other components that make us feel joy or happiness,” Vojtek said. “So it really is just an added benefit for people, even if they don’t know that they’re getting that benefit. Just having the art in our space has been really valuable to the people who are in it.
“Holding Light” is on view at Stewart’s Caring Place (3501 Ridge Park Drive, Fairlawn) through the end of September. The public can visit from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and by appointment on Saturday.
