The Biliary Tree
by Sarah Kearning
Acrylic paint, 11x14 inches
Artist’s Statement:
With my family split between Toledo & Cincinnati, I've driven up and down I-75 so many times that I seem to have memorized each exit. One of my favorite parts of the drive was seeing this enormous oak tree in Findlay called "The Sentinel Oak". It stood strong and solitary in the middle of a huge field -- one of those pieces of nature that make you say "wow." This tree was somewhere between 300-400 years old and was sadly cut down due to an illness a few years ago.
During my Interventional Radiology rotation, I was watching a biliary drain placement, and when the dye was injected, I couldn't help but think "wow.” It was a gorgeous picture of the biliary tree. The liver in the background, each little end of the biliary ducts visible. It was a little Sentinel Oak right in the body.
Thus, my inspiration to paint "The Biliary Tree". In true Northwest Ohio winter fashion, a strong oak tree stands in the middle of a field, representing the biliary tree in the body, with shadows depicting the liver behind it. I used hints of blue and red as a nod to the strong vascularity of the liver.
Sarah Kearney is a fourth-year medical student at the UTCOMLS.
