Penn Medicine nurse leans on art as she weaves her way through life, health care

A Philadelphia nurse is sharing the power of art, weaving her way through life as an artist and health care provider.

Taking care of people and knowing about their medical conditions supplies this nurse with all kinds of ideas for her art.

Weaving, creating art – this is what Linda Ruggiero does when she’s not working as a nurse at Penn Medicine.

“I definitely get my inspiration a lot from those experiences in the lab and in other areas of nursing,” Ruggiero said.

In the cardiac catheterization lab, she was inspired by all the tubing and stents. She explains this creation, depicting what happens when there’s a troubled artery. 

The heart is such a great metaphor for artwork and for opening up and healing and life,” Ruggiero said. “And so it was sort of easy to make that connection.”

Ruggiero was a neuroscience researcher before she decided to become a nurse seven years ago.

“I just liked the learning aspect,” she said.

Early in her nursing career,  COVID hit, and Penn was bombarded with sick and dying patients. Ruggiero was on the front lines at the hospital.

“It was terrible and it was so heartbreaking,” she said, “and it just felt like it wouldn’t stop.”

Making art became her salvation during those dark days of the pandemic.

“The piece is called ‘Contained’ because we have this sense of trying to contain this virus that really was not contained at all in any form,” Ruggiero said.

There are two pieces about COVID: one a mess of yarn and the other a little more organized.

“This was sort of our trying to keep things tidy and contained, with it sort of seeping out on the sides. And this is what I felt like it was in reality, just kind of chaotic,” she said.

Now, her art is more focused on patients and families in Philadelphia, struggling with gun violence and drug addiction.

“Being creative has always kind of helped me, like, feel better,” Ruggiero said.

And as if she’s not already busy enough, the Penn Medicine nurse also teaches weaving. Ruggiero said that in her early 20s, she started knitting as something to do on the bus.