LAUNCH

MARK LOMBARD of Stevens Park figured out a way to bring the world’s greatest art to people who couldn’t otherwise see it. A hospice volunteer, Lombard founded For Love and Art: Sharing with Seniors, which uses digital photo albums to take people at the end of their lives to virtual museums, from the Meadows to the Met.

Where did the For Love and art idea come from?

I really looked at my life and decided what was important to me. And I decided that it was great art. The DMA is like my second home. I’m a volunteer with Lion Hospice, and one of my clients is Miss Billie (who is pictured above). She was working on getting her legs stronger, and I said, ‘Get your strength up, and I’ll take you to the museum,’ and she would just light up. As it turned out, she never got to go to the museum, so I started bringing her postcards with pictures of artwork on them. I noticed that when she was in the presence of this art, she looked young again. I wanted to bring that experience to people in hospice. If they can’t come to museums, I’m going to bring art to them.

So how did you get it going?

I couldn’t get anyone excited about the idea. There was no structure to it. I sent emails to all the local museums, and finally I heard back from a woman at the Amon Carter Museum, and she invited me to come talk to them. After that I realized the digital photo book was the missing link. It’s relatively low cost. And it’s not a laptop. It’s not an iPad. It’s not something that’s likely to be stolen. It’s an easy, durable way for us to bring the art experience to those with limited mobility.