From the artist: My earliest art inspiration took place as a young child when I attended a summer chair designing and chair making class at the Denver Museum of Art, where I was encouraged to explore how people interact with their physical environment. "Chairish" was inspired by thinking about how we interact with our environment differently now than we did before COVID-19 and provided a way to elevate my excitement for finishing medical school, symbolized by coming full circle with my art explorations that were part of my eagerness to pursue a career in surgery.

From the artist: I've always been fascinated by the idea that two people, a hundred people, even billions of people have the ability to share and transfer a thought or feeling between their brains no matter how much space exists between them. The design for this piece began as a circle, the intuitive shape people take when we gather as a group to share information, and then it shifted into a curving and bending form of a ring that shifts and grows inwards to a single point, this movement signifying the uneven and beautiful progression towards a collective idea or goal that takes place so often when we gather.

Jason Brody grew up in Denver, Colorado and spent his weekends outdoors in the Rocky Mountains, developing his artistic skills, cooking, and engaging in environmental activism. Jason has always loved working with his hands and never ceases to have a creative project in process—a painting, a sculpture, or a carpentry project. As an undergraduate, he studied public health at UC Berkeley. In medical school, he has pursued deeper clinical understanding through research, volunteer work with uninsured patients, and curriculum development. Jason is completing his 4th year of medical school and plans to enter general surgery residency this July.