By Father Peter A. Dora

Georgia artist JoAnne Paschall has recently completed a major commission for the new Saint Joseph's Hospital in North Atlanta. She has produced more than 300 etchings for the patients' rooms throughout the institution.

In planning for the new hospital, the staff of Saint Joseph's and the designers were concerned with providing a warm, dignified and personal environment for the patients and staff. The key elements in this conception were original artwork, color and plants to create a human feeling rather than a clinical atmosphere. It is the use of original art which distinguishes Saint Joseph's from many other public institutions which choose to decorate with mechanical reproductions of artworks.

Paschall's etchings represent a major commitment on the part of the hospital in that every patient's room will contain original artwork.

"Not many printmakers get the opportunity for such an ambitions project," Paschall said. She was quick to point out that while the finished works are called "prints," they are not the same as the printed copies of paintings run off on a printing press. Rather, this is a non-mechanical process in which the artist makes the original zinc plate by hand and the actual printing is done by hand.

The zinc printing plate is etched by an acid process as well as by hand etching with special tools. The finished plate is then inked by hand and the image is transferred to paper by direct contact with the plate.

Since the etchings include various colors, the color inks must be applied by hand to the appropriate sections of the plate.

Paschall speaks of a "challenge in pulling consistent proofs," to indicate the difficulty of getting the right ink in the right place and making the transfer to paper in just he right way.

For the hospital commission she produced three original plates and made 100 prints from each plate for a total of 300 finished pieces of artwork. With each plate, the color scheme was changed after 50 impressions.

The final result of the process is a series of etchings each of which is the personal production and vision of the artist.

The Saint Joseph's etchings were completed in two and a half months at the end of 1977. Paschall worked continually during this time with her only day off being Christmas day.

The printing plates were made in a studio in Athens while the prints were made in Memphis, Tenn. Miss Paschall said that she had been apprehensive about the time element at the beginning, but that she had actually managed to finish a month ahead of schedule.

JoAnne Paschall said that she had wanted to be an artist all her life, and that she began to draw at age three. She has a sister who is a painter and another who is in the field of art history.

Her own artistic interest centers around printmaking. "It is a nice blend of sculpture and painting," she said, "combining drawing, the molding of the surface of the printing plate and then the actual printing. You have to enjoy all three parts to do it well."

The central experience of her artistic career was time spent in Cortona, Italy, on two summer art programs with the University of Georgia Art Department. "Everything made sense there," she said. While there, she lived in a 13^th century convent and spent her time reading, drawing and making prints. In her second year at Cortona, she set up a shop for making art prints and it is still there and operating.

In the future, Miss Paschall would like to set up her own print shop where she could produce her own etchings, teach the art to children and do printing for other artists. She envisions such a shop dealing with etchings as well as lithographs, woodcuts and linoleum prints.

The artistic expression of the Catholic Church has long played an important role in her art. She speaks of the "sensory overload," of the artworks in a church in her hometown of Memphis. As a child, she would go to the church to look at the Stations of the Cross, the statues, the candelabra and the frescoes. Her earliest opinion was simply, "There must be some reason behind all this beauty."

Today she adds: "Can you imagine Rome without the Catholic Church?" She feels that through her own work she shares in this heritage of deepest artistic expression.

The new Saint Joseph's Hospital also includes works in silkscreen, lithography, watercolor and acrylic mostly by Southeastern artists well-known in the area.

The monumental weavings in the main lobby of the building are by Canadian artist, Raimond Senior. Heath Gallery in Atlanta was chosen to provide the artworks from their gallery artists.