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Photo Courtesy of Richard Walker |
Prescription for Art
Alumnus Richard Walker ’89 has two lives. By day he’s a nurse clinician in the cardio-thoracic intensive care unit at Emory University Hospital. By night (and by weekend) he’s an accomplished artist who studied at the Yale University School of Art and the Rhode Island School of Design. (He was also an art major at VC as an undergraduate.) His unique blend of passions – health care and art – came from his father, Jerome Walker, a retired neurologist and nature photographer.
Dealing mainly with paintings, sketches, and wood block prints, he worked as an artist for a time, but felt a subtle pull toward medicine as well. Then, as they did for so many, the September 11 terrorist attacks prompted greater reflection…and just the push he needed to take the step toward nursing. Walker graduated from Mercer University with a degree in nursing in 2004, and his life has been on a dual track of medicine and art ever since.
Most recently, Walker illustrated the book, A Place for Delta, written by his mother, Melissa Walker, a former English professor, passionate wilderness advocate, and now, acclaimed children’s book author. (A Place for Delta won the 2010 International Book Award for Children’s Fiction.) – PB