Peak Performer: Nicole Rogers

Nicole endlessly imagines and creates impeccable works of art for patients and families. She dedicates herself to really learning about the family, their needs, aspirations, sorrows, and joys. She works to create unique pieces that capture the breadth and depth of an experience. Nicole was the artist for the coping skills cards we are developing at The Center for Children’s Health. She captured, perfectly, the spirit of our intentions. We gave Nicole an idea and she exceeded our expectations. She created a useful, fun, vibrant item that will help countless children in Fort Worth when they experience big feelings. It is easy to think that Nicole simply provides entertainment or distraction for a hospitalized patient or a memory item to a grieving family but she helps tell the story of hospitalization, sickness, anxiety and death. Paint-stroke-by-paint-stroke she turns the almost-unspeakable pain of illness and loss into works that transcend experiences that we sometimes cannot even put into words.

Nicole was an instrumental artist of the CARPE team (along with Veronica Kubiak) in illustrating the new Prayer Bear book given out to nearly every child in the Medical Center. The illustrations are beautiful for sure. What is so impressive is that they were able to capture racial diversity in the character representations. They also highlighted many of the unique and beautiful features of the Medical Center's campus. These are all examples of great quality. Yet, with closer examination the English book and the Spanish book have a slight difference. The team created a unique piece of art for page 4 to reflect different versions of the prayer cards that are distributed along with the books. In a world in which Spanish materials are often simply translated directly from English this attention to detail and inclusivity is an example of service to the Spanish-speaking population. It may seem subtle but this sort of detail speaks volumes in love--a very clear, "I see you."