Life on Canvas: Joyful Deliveries, Inspiring Designs
For labor and delivery nurse Alex Curtiss, her caring and creative nature spills over into all corners of her life.
“Mural a day keeps the doctor away.” —Alex Curtiss
During high school, Alex Curtiss would often draw and paint large-scale butterflies, dragonflies and marine life directly on her bedroom walls. Her parents supported her expressive nature and always encouraged her to spread her artistic wings.
But soon after she graduated from Barnstable High School, her artwork took a backseat to her nursing studies at Simmons College. Today, despite her hectic schedule as a per diem labor and delivery nurse at Cape Cod Hospital, Alex has found a way to allow her creativity to take flight in both her main job and as a local artist who specializes in murals, paintings and apparel.
She has designed zip-up hoodies for the maternity staff and painted tropical-themed murals at Falmouth Women’s Health for Dr. Elizabeth Speed and Dr. Richard Heywood.
Alex’s most recent project for Cape Cod Healthcare includes designing T-shirts for the TeamBirth project, an initiative at Cape Cod Healthcare to promote equity in the childbirth care experience. TeamBirth ensures women giving birth and their clinicians have shared input into the decisions during labor and delivery. Alex’s manager, Jennifer Lacasse, approached her about designing the T-shirts, and Alex quickly went to work.
The turquoise shirt shows a baby on the front surrounded by a heart. The back features an expectant mother, the headline “TeamBirth” and underneath, “Supporting Safe Birth: Every patient, everywhere, every time.” The T-shirts were worn by the Family Birthplace team as part of a special event launch on April 11 .
No two days are the same
As a per diem labor and delivery nurse, the 29-year-old says her job entails everything from teaching postpartum patients about how to take care of their baby to assisting with C-sections. “There are so many roles on my unit, it’s hard to sum it all up. But that’s what keeps it interesting—no two days are ever the same,” says Alex, during a recent interview after working an overnight shift from 3 p.m. to 4 a.m.
The South Yarmouth resident, who was born at Cape Cod Hospital and grew up on the Cape, graduated with a nursing degree from Simmons College in 2016 and immediately started working as a med-surg nurse on Mugar 3.
After two years, she transferred to the maternity floor, where she is going on her fifth year. “I always knew I wanted to be a nurse,” says Alex, who worked as a nurse’s aide at Cape Cod Hospital before going off to college. “I feel lucky because I was one of those people who knew exactly what they wanted to do.”
Finding inspiration everywhere
When she isn’t in her scrubs and assisting with labor and deliveries, you can often find Alex with a paintbrush in her hand at home or perched on a ladder working on a mural for a local business. She has drawn a larger-than-life shark jaw and tentacles for Cape Shark, an apparel store in Chatham; an octopus at Fresh Ketch in Hyannis; pies for Centerville Pie Company; and vines on the front window of Viv’s Kitchen in Orleans. As part of her process, Alex first sketches an image in the Procreate app on her iPad, then projects the image onto the wall.
The parallels of working as a maternity nurse and creating public art aren’t lost on Alex. Both are usually happy deliveries, and both bring joy to people. “It’s the one floor in the hospital where people usually aren’t sick—they are coming in for something happy. Sometimes I stand back and think, ‘Wow, I am there for when people are having their babies, including my best friends.’”
She shares a similar mindset with her artwork. “I am delivering something special, and I feel like I just put a little piece of me on the wall,” says Alex. “My artwork is featured inside these businesses, and these mural projects are like my babies. It’s very special to me.”
The South Yarmouth resident says she finds inspiration all around her, including at Chapin Beach in Dennis and White Crest Beach in Wellfleet, where she hangs out with her boyfriend, Devin, and dog, Opie (a Catahoula breed). Alex explains her artistic side helps keep her balanced with her hectic work schedule. “When I get home, I can just paint and not think about anything. It’s therapy for me.”
“My mom and I have always had a bond with butterflies, so I love to paint them,” says Alex Curtiss. “I love the symbolism of butterflies—the transformation and rebirth.” (Click arrow above right to view slideshow.)
A feast for the eyes: Alex transformed one wall at Centerville Pie Co. in Sandwich.
Octopus tentacles make a statement above the clothing racks at Cape Shark in Chatham.
Alex recently designed new T-shirts for the TeamBirth launch at Cape Cod Hospital.
As a per diem labor and delivery nurse, the 29-year-old says her job entails everything from assisting with C-sections to teaching postpartum patients about infant care.
For the maternity staff at Cape Cod Hospital last year, Alex designed special zip-up hoodies.
Creating mural magic at Cape Shark: Alex first draws the image on her iPad, then projects the drawing on the wall.
"Creating murals at local businesses is so special to me because a little piece of me is on the wall," says Alex, pictured with her octopus mural at Fresh Ketch on Main Street in Hyannis.
