EASTERN SHORE ART CENTER ANNOUNCES: A CALL TO ALL SURVIVORS
Eastern Shore Art Center presents F.A.C.E.S. , a show that allows survivors to stand up and demonstrate how they Face All Cancer and Emerge with Strength. This project began as a reaction to Susan Harrell’s visit to Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Summit in Austin, Texas last October. As a survivor herself, Susan went to learn more about helping further the cause of cancer awareness. Lance challenged all attendees to find a way to identify the faces of cancer all around us. He said that if everyone knew how many people were impacted by it, more emphasis on finding and funding a cure would happen. Susan asked me to help get this project up and running. We decided survivors creating or sharing their faces would best illustrate what we wanted to share. Standing together, facing the future, acknowledging their struggles and victories is what we imagined.
We invited survivors to come to workshops or mail in photos of themselves to post in the show, including a statement about what got them through it. They came and worked with us, some stopped in for one visit to create art or have a photo taken, others came and returned faithfully with eagerness at each workshop held. We had a children’s day, when many children came with the help of Camp Rap-a-Hope calling them. They worked in clay, painted, laughed and had pictures taken of them by photographer Rob Renner who captured them “at play”, children at their best! Blind artist Ricky Trione joined us too.
Local Bosom Buddy ladies stopped by for a fashion photography shoot with visiting photographer Heather H. Ray of Dallas, Texas. They also were invited to play in clay or paint, and some did. Other days brought in more new participants as the word got out about the project, both through the media and internet. Mail started bringing in a new face almost daily, and a story that went with it, of course.
Potter Erica Bodine worked with the artists in clay, and they recreated themselves looking into a mirror. Lots of laughter over crooked noses filled the room, and musings over how to include hair, or lack thereof. The children especially loved molding a new face, and went at it with gusto. Weaver Louisa Hargett joined us for a few sessions where they were introduced to fabric art, and came up with the idea to weave into a bicycle articles of clothing that represented part of their journey (like a belt from the dress the day they went into surgery). The weaving on Lance’s symbol showed unity.
Julia Bacy, photographer, jumped in with ideas on how to recreate their images on fabric, and thus the winners pennants were created, including the colors of the ribbons representing the cancer they conquered for each “racer” in the “Tour de Life”.
Each week brought new lessons, new faces, some old familiar faces, and always …Bettie Bayer. Bettie came in the first week, grabbed a hold of each new art lesson with excitement, and announced…”This is me” and started recreating photos as they arrived, turning them into wonderful colored pencil portraits. Everywhere she went, she started carrying a camera to capture survivor’s images to recreate for the show! Some days I would come into work and see that she had left eight new pictures and wanted more! (More on back)
SPECIAL THANKS TO THOSE WHO MAKE THIS PROGRAM POSSIBLE THROUGH GRANTS: CITY OF FAIRHOPE, COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTH ALABAMA, AND VERY SPECIAL ARTS OF ALABAMA
Student interns Briana Blount and Shannon Keely came to sessions and started drawing the survivors as they showed up, or helping them grasp the art lesson I presented. They were a big help, and brought a fun energy to the room. Brianna and Shannon help in community projects often, their love of art is contagious.
Marvelous teachers from the community volunteered to help in any way they could.
Karin Marrero, art teacher at Covenant Christian in Mobile, had her student react to the show. I emailed her some images of the participants, and they chose to recreate them in an artistic way. One of her students wanted to honor her grandmother, who was an artist, and modeled the watercolor background for her composition from a painting of her dear grandmother’s. The quotes the children included are very touching.
Ruby Lange’s art class at Murphy High School found an up close and personal view of the subject. Ruby found three on campus who are survivors, and she took pictures of them. The students reacted with sketches of them, getting a grade for drawing, learning skills, and doing community work, all at the same time!
Lynda Williams, art teacher at Fairhope High School, invited her members of the Art Club to participate. They rendered some very touching drawings and earned hours for a service project as well.
What we originally thought was going to be hundreds of survivors coming in, turned out to be the regulars and just a few new faces each week. We all passed people daily that didn’t want to put a “face to their cancer”. This in turn, changed the project. How could we get so many from strangers across the country asking to be included in the show, and yet a smaller local reaction than we had hoped for? We decided that was part of the story. Those that returned each week, bonded and shared stories and hope for each other’s recovery. They didn’t want the art sessions to stop! And so far, they haven’t!
What is the point of healing art? Is if for the person creating it to understand their emotions, and have a chance to express? Is it to help illustrate a cause, a purpose that a community unites over? Is it to help a parent and child come to a workshop together and understand each other’s emotions better? Is it so survivors of anything can sit in a room together with others on the same journey and realize they are not alone? Is it to work on a piece of collaborative art and feel the connection? Is it so they can face their feelings?
Or is it simply so a lone woman can walk in two days before the show is open, and walk through the room in a reflective mood, carefully observing each piece in the exhibit?
As she enters a soft conversation with the survivor who was volunteering with me to hang the show, I overheard “What can I expect?” She came looking for the faces of survival, as she prepared for her surgery in three days. She came looking for hope.
I saw slips of paper exchanged, with phone numbers. That is what this show is about, offering a face of hope, a face to connect to. They gain strength from the images each has created, and respect each others challenges. Facing the future together, they unite.
Working with them has had a profound effect on me. They are amazingly brave, honest, appreciative of life’s simplest blessings, and just really neat people. Livestrong!
Nancy Raia, Eastern Shore Art Center 251-928-2228 Help us carry this message forward, find a place to have this show travel! Email: nancy@esartcenter.com
TO PARTICIPATE
Send in an image of the survivor (no larger than 8” by 10”). Images can be photographs(copies are fine), or a copy of a piece of art that portrays the survivors face. Survivors can be of all ages, any geographic area: we want to see them all! Even a grandchild’s crayon drawing of the survivor can work!
No framed pieces, please. Items mailed in will not be returned, as we are expecting a large volume, and hope to travel the show. All Images must be marked with the following information: Name of survivor, What they survived, and Words that got them through it.
Mail them to: F.A.C.E.S. Show/ Eastern Shore Art Center, 401 Oak Street, Fairhope Al, 36532. Participating in the show includes permission to photograph the images on display for media purposes to further the cause.
Local survivors have begun meeting with teams of artists to create pieces towards this show. Survivors wishing to participate in art experiences to help create for this show can contact Nancy Raia at 928-2228 or email her to find the next survivors’ workshop offering.
F.A.C.E.S. premieres the week of October 8th, at the Eastern Shore Art Center. It will be up for three weeks.
F.A.C.E.S IN THE NEWS
|
