Thrive

The RiverBend Stroke Survivor and Caregiver Support Group, in honor of Stroke Awareness Month, has created 25 paintings illustrating what it means to thrive after stroke.  
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PRN Art Gallery
Springfield, Oregon
May & June 2025    

In honor of Stroke Awareness Month, the RiverBend Stroke Survivor and Caregiver Support Group created  a series of paintings that recognize the journey of stroke. This art exhibition was a year in the making and created out of the aftermath of individuals and families who have experience with stroke. Each piece is painted by either a stroke survivor, their personal caregiver (carer) or a member of the stroke team at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend.

My mom had a stroke in 2010, and I was one of her carers. My journey with stroke, as a daughter of a stroke survivor, is what led me to the Stroke Program in June 2020. When I joined the Stroke Program during the height of the Covid pandemic, I was still wallowing in the uncertainty of who I was as a carer. Did I do a good job? What could I have done differently? I was hired to facilitate the RiverBend Stroke Survivor and Caregiver Support Group and the big catch; we couldn’t meet in person. We started meeting on Zoom and with a few technical hiccups and much patience and humor our group persevered. During those months of meeting via screens I realized I was meeting some of the strongest people I will ever meet. These are folks who have spent many days in confusion and fear and came out stronger. I didn’t know how to say this  without sounding flippant. As an artist, I communicate visually with color, shape and composition. In that understanding an idea formed, inviting the group to create work. I wanted to share the excitement and power of a  group art exhibition. I wanted to bring the power of art to them. And I wanted to thank each person in the group for making me see that even after something terrible has happened, they overcame unbelievable obstacles. I see them thriving, facing challenges and conquering fears. I hope these words do not sound like a sound bite or something people just say. I believe in the strength of these survivors. I believe in the love of their carers and I know they are conquering fears every single day. This art exhibition is dedicated to some of the strongest people I have ever met and most likely will ever meet.​

M. V. Moran earned her MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. Moran has a BFA in Painting from the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. Moran has exhibited prolifically throughout the Pacific Northwest. Moran works at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in the Stroke Program, an Artist-in-Residence for the Lane Arts Council, a faculty member at Lane Community College and has taught at Bushnell University in Eugene, Oregon. Moran is a lifelong Oregonian and has been an Eugenian for the past thirty years.

The exhibition was organized by M. V. Moran, curated by Susan Detroy, supported by PeaceHealth and Art Heals at the  Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon.