Upon entering the Marvin Samson Museum for the History of Pharmacy, dozens of colorful promotional pens arranged in sun-like circles and illuminated by bright fluorescent lights immediately catch the eye.
Artist-in-residence Teresa Cervantes, MFA, associate professor of sculpture at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, hand selected the pens for her exhibition “Indications,” which is running until Nov. 29. The arrangement of artifacts intricately connects pharmaceutical history and art. Cervantes spoke at the Samson Museum Sept. 18, where she detailed her creative process and what led to the exhibition.
During the covid-19 pandemic, Cervantes found herself intrigued by the ritualistic nature of self-care and wellness.
“Once you start paying attention, [it] almost feels like this dance,” Cervantes said. “You have the same products you [use] every day around the same time; open and close, put it away, and scrub and wash and swallow.
After visiting the Samson Museum in 2024 and viewing the collections, Cervantes was interested in the artistry of the pharmaceutical artifacts. Inspired by pharmaceutical marketing techniques, Cervantes created art with a multitude of mediums informed by historical research.
“I did a lot of research with the museum’s collection, in person and using the online database,” Cervantes said. “I also read a lot of essays on design since I was analyzing the [drug] packages and the marketing strategies on them.”
Cervantes connects these strategies — like the importance of color, legibility and word choice — with her art, designing a unique collection of modern objects and historical artifacts.
Renee Colbert of West Philadelphia said the description of the exhibit drew them into the museum.
“I didn’t know [the museum] was here at all, and this was a really beautiful introduction into the space,” Colbert said. “I was curious about what the artist was sharing through her work.”
Colbert found themself empowered by the exhibition. They felt it invited people to reflect on their ability to take back their own health and wellness.
Part of the collection features the medicine cabinets of St. Joe’s staff, faculty and students in a community artwork series. Volunteers allowed Cervantes to view their medicine cabinets and include a piece of her “altered product packaging” series and subsequently recreate the cabinet using various artistic mediums, including sculpture and pastels.
Cervantes said her favorite part about the experience has been integrating her craft with the complex history of pharmacy tradition. Finding “ways to engage with history and the past with [her] current work” expanded her understanding of her own art.
Cervantes felt she had been changed by this exhibit. Before, her work was politically sharp. This exhibit, she said, challenges that.
“I think with this exhibition, instead of looking for a hard line, as a person and as an artist, I’m more trying to hold complexity and finding that more useful and fruitful than a hard line,” Cervantes said.
Emma Gunuey-Marrs, assistant curator and collection manager for the Marvin Samson Museum for the History of Pharmacy, said the exhibit presents viewers with a new way of interacting with historical objects.
“I think often we think about material history and art collections as something static, as something untouchable,” Gunuey-Marrs said. “What I see this show doing in breaking that line between what’s old, what’s new, what’s art, what’s history, is that it really offers the collection to us as a resource for today.”
