Art Heals - So Does the Act of Painting

"Have you ever executed something like this?"

the Committee Chair inquired.  No, I had to confess.

This would be a first.

But this I know: Art plays a role in healing.

So with the blessing of the Oncology Manager and the Art Committee Chairwoman of the Seby B. Jones Cancer Treatment Center in Boone, NC, I set out to organize what I proposed as a "community painting".  It would engage anyone who wanted to paint a portion of a line drawn composition and the end result (hopefully)would be suitable for hanging in the oncology infusion room.  Healing Ceilings was a past project I loved and my hope was to provide similar healing energies and painted prayers in this one painting. (This article even shows one of my contributions.)

I chose my open houses during Tour de Art to invite guests in to paint.  Here's the way the story unfolded throughout the summer:

Parts of this paper schematic were transferred to the board, 36 x 24 (above)

and a painting station with instructions set up (below).

friends, singles, couples and families...all came.  Very few deemed themselves artists

but all had a personal reason they wanted to provide a bit of cheer for

cancer patients and caregivers.  It was my pleasure to hear these

stories while meeting lots of new folks.

Little by little the piece took on a life of its own.

"Guests artists" were encouraged to be creative, make changes, add their touch.

Sometimes I would turn around and just laugh over how the latest

additions had enhanced the energy of the piece.

Most everyone remembered to sign their name on the back...

unprompted, some left messages of experience, hope and love.

I met men and women from several states.  I knew no one's political, religious or educational background.  We simply possessed the common purpose of wanting to share some healing love with someone who was experiencing a treatment with which we were all, in some way, familiar.  

A side benefit was the opportunity for me to encourage many who had never painted to make a big splash on their first attempt: a piece of public art!  woo - hoo....that's rare.  Community collaborations are always inspiring in surprising ways and this was no different.

I delivered the painting (titled "It's a New Day,") recently and was appreciative of the recipients' enthusiasm.  It is likely that no one who views the art will actually know any of us who made our mark on it.  But it is our collective wish that while they spend some time viewing it (and thus not thinking of meds and painful reactions) they will soak up the spirit contained within it...it is truly infused with healing vibes and loving mojo, packed with positive thoughts and prayers for a brighter day.

Just how special is that?

ART HEALS,

Cindy

p.s.  My title claims that the act of painting also heals, well...you shoulda been there!  It is amazing what we can do when we are doing it for someone else!

High Country Tour de Art

I love to peek behind the scenes.

To look behind the magic curtain, lift the veil of mystery,

watch how the sausage is made...all terms for

getting to see where something is created.

Observing the mechanics of any process leads to new respect.

So let me invite you to this year's High Country Tour de Art, the 9th annual. On the fourth Saturday of the next six months area artists and galleries will throw open their doors to invite the public into the inner sanctums of creation.  It's a day to ask questions, exchange ideas, wander about and perhaps try something new.  

Wonder what the difference between "wheel thrown" pottery and "coiled" is?  Confused about the choice of acrylic versus oil?  And just where do those off-the-wall ideas come from?  This is your day to load up the car, download a map here (or get one at your first stop) and head out.  Any artist will be happy to recommend the perfect lunch spot.  If you are here all summer, it's a great tour for your guests or one you can do little by little over several months.

I'M EXCITED because I have a new potter in my studio AND a fun community project for you to join.

just a sample of Eric Reichard's great work

Eric is bringing in new work daily and after you check out his website you will want to see the real stuff.  Eric and Maggie Black (my studio neighbor) have worked together and it was her recommendation that brought this beautiful new addition to my work space.  Come check it out.

ALSO, join me as together we create the brightest, happiest painting this side of the Blue Ridge to be donated to the Seby B. Jones Cancer Treatment Center on the Watauga Medical Campus here in Boone.  Many of us know loved ones who have spent hours receiving chemo treatments. It's a tedious, scary length of time and whether you are the patient or the caregiver old magazines don't do much for distracting you from worry. 

Remembering the fun of participating in the Healing Ceilings Project I contacted our own Treatment Center only to discover their Art Committee was currently exploring the idea of how art aids the healing process.  They embraced the project and I have promised them that everyone slapping on some color, outlining an object or adding a design to this 36" x 24" painting will be autographing the back of it with love and good wishes.  

I'll be sharing more on this project as it develops but you don't have to be able to "draw a straight line" to help out.  The lines will be drawn, the colors are out and paint brushes provided.  All you have to do is add your touch, make a mark or paint by number.  Let's make something that takes time to look at, that will be so full of color and lines and designs and objects that anyone sitting down for their treatment will go off into a new world where there is hope and promise.  

Saturday, June 24, that's tomorrow!  Come on by 112 Clubhouse Drive, right off Hwy 105 in Foscoe. We are officially open at 10 am (you know I'm there earlier) and happy to see you until 5 pm.  If you get lost call me at 32-795-0816 and I'll give you a landmark.  

and guess what?  there is no limit to the number of times you can come!!  

See you tomorrow,

Cindy

A Few of My Favorite Things...

 In closing out 2013 and looking forward to 2014 I thought I'd share a few of my favorite things (art-related of course).  Please feel free to hum along...I hear Julie Andrews singing in the background! And boy was it hard to choose just a "few..."

Started the year with drawing classes from Jon Houghton

Collage paintings, this one inspired by Patti's chickens

Art for the Pieces of 8 show:
Black & White and Read All Over

Many afternoons learning mosaic with friend Cheri

Painting "Healing Ceilings" for the Raleigh, NC Cancer Center

A surprise sailing trip to celebrate 60 with my sis

 All things related to my trip to Italy but especially the graceful Umbrella Pines and the awesome feeling of standing on the Appian Way... and any day Kelly took me out to paint!

The annual trip with the Pieces, this time to GA home of Phillis,
here is the barn at Washington Grass Inn

Painting some whimsy for my DiL Alex's laundry room

Camping with my husband in our new pop-up and capturing
the scenery in oil (St Augustine area)

More eye-candy: painting chairs just for fun
and knowing they have a new life!

".....when the bee stings, when the dog bites, when I'm feeling sad...I simply remember a few of these things and then I don't feel (crescendo....) so bad!"

With wishes for a  Colorful New Year for all of us.
Cindy

A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine.....

Amy Jo Edwards describes herself as "a Rubenesque fifty-something wild woman who has more ideas than good sense; someone who believes in the power of love ..."  When I read that note I knew immediately I would not only like her but that we would share a bond that needed no words.  Amy Jo is the organizer, cheer-leader, conduit and motivator for what she affectionately has dubbed the "healing ceilings."  It was my privilege to spend a stolen 45 minutes with her and her husband Bill when they recently drove from Raleigh to Boone to pick up about 2 dozen painted ceiling tiles collected from artists in Boone and Melbourne, FL.

I want to share, as Paul Harvey (rip) used to say: the rest of the story.

In a coffee shop right off the highway we settled in with a couple of glasses of cold java.  It was easy to be immediately intimate, cancer experiences create quick bonds.  Amy described how she was her husband's advocate every minute he was in chemo and did her best to cheer up the rest of the treatment room as well.  One night she was exhausted and cried to a friend.  "I just don't think I can take another minute of looking at those @%$!** ceilings," she wailed, describing the long, scary hours they spent at the treatment center.  "Well," replied her wise and flippant confidante, "take the flippin' tile down and paint it." 

Don't issue Amy Jo a challenge....the next day she was in sharing her plan with the staff.  Of course she got push back:  "We are an evidence based healing center," was one retort to which Amy responded by drowning the commenter in clinical studies related to art and healing.  "We can't buy the tiles," was another excuse that sent Amy guaranteeing all tiles would be paid for outside hospital funds.  "Let me see what you have in mind" was the best comment as Amy happily showed up with 6 gorgeous tiles of coy fish circling in a dreamy pond.  It blew them away and Amy rode off in the sunset to ask a few more artists to paint a few more tiles which friends had eagerly agreed to purchase.

AmyJo & Bill Edwards with tile painted by Tammy Blinkly of Elk park, NC

Now when Amy and Bill arrive at the hospital with another load of paintings the word travels fast.
"We line them up along a hallway as we unload," she explains, "and as we decide where to put them the different room managers and nurses almost knock themselves over trying to be the first to choose."  She chuckled over how one manager is "theming" her treatment room with all the wacky pieces she can get her hands on.  Another is partial to ocean scenes and tries to get first dibs on anything with water.  "We even have the doctors sending down "scouts" now," Amy laughs.  "They were slow to get excited but now they want them in the exam rooms and elsewhere."  She relates that one or two docs even came forth wanting to buy some of the tiles to frame and hang.  But true to her goals Amy refused the offers.  "These are gifts from the artists.  They paint from their hearts with a specific audience in mind.  We are happy to provide the artist directory so anyone can contact the artist directly and buy other pieces.  Healing Ceilings is not profit motivated nor money needy."

Amy Jo, myself, Bebe and Betsy unpack the art from FL,

pictured with tile by Kathy Garvey, Palm Bay, FL artist

Word is spreading.  "I don't believe in coincidence," she says, "The people who get on board have a whole set of reasons for connecting with us.  The ripple affect is spreading and it is spreading in powerful directions."  She get tears as she talks about an artist who is losing her fight with the big C but will live on via the sensitive tiles she painted for the room she endured her chemo in.  I get chills as she tells the story of how a friend healed from the loss of a loved one by painting totally out of her style.  And I tear up ,too, thinking of the names that Cheri Glover and I put on the backs of our tiles to dedicate them to persons now fighting their own battles. 

oohhing and aahhing in the parking lot as handoff is made!

pictured is a healing tree by Cheri Glover, Elk Park, NC artist

One last pull of coffee and we bounded out to the cars to make the handoff.  By now we are joined by Betsy Troxler from Boone and Bebe, her friend also of Raleigh.  We wiped the tears and now celebrated like crazy women in the parking lot.  People driving by would slow and look carefully as we lined up art and began loading it into Bill's car.  We took pictures and laughed and were so glad to be a part of this unique program.  There is not a lot I can do to help find a cure for cancer, it is one of those things that make a mere mortal feel very small.  But I promise you, if something I paint will give a cancer patient even fifteen minutes of amusement, or serenity, or distraction, then by golly that is something this mere mortal can and will do!!

Here's hoping that many more cancer care centers will be willing to dive in and let artists make a contribution to the emotional health and attitudes of both patients and caregivers.  Cheers!

Cindy

Betsy Troxler of Boone, NC with her tile headed to the Raleigh, NC

cancer treatment center

Healing Ceilings...

One of the most wonderful things about painting is when I can find a way to make something I love doing help someone else.  I've donated artwork to auctions, taught at risk kids, painted furniture for benefits and done logos etc for fundraisers.  But when I came across the brainchild of Amy Jo Edwards in Raleigh, NC I got really excited.  Dubbed Healing Ceilings, Amy Jo is organizing volunteer artists to paint the otherwise boring white ceilings of the cancer care center in her hometown.  Her husband had to endure hours (as did his companions) staring at the ceiling tiles during chemotherapy.   Been there, done that.

So I got on board as fast as I could.

It was daunting work.  First of course, I tend to overthink these things, polling folks as to what they would want to look at, realizing that it might be from any angle in the room and knowing that details could very well be lost on one 2 foot x 2 foot panel.  So I decided to go big or go home and put four together necessitating a 4 foot x 4 foot design.  These acoustic panels are very absorbent and literally lap up the paint so they are sealed first with a lot of gesso.  My neighbor Stuart was undergoing some cancer treatments even as I painted these so I dedicated them on the back to him.

I confess that I painted over my composition many times...I knew what I wanted but golly gee, this was way out of my ball park.  These hidden butterflies are a combination of paint and collage with the little dragon flies done in paint only.  I had several family members request hidden things to amuse them with the search so I tucked in some hopefully inspirational words for the viewer to find.

Even if they never find the words I hope this is at least more pleasant and cheerful than staring at a white ceiling for 5 hours.  My buddies of Pieces of 8 are also doing some and here is one lovely tile done by fellow artist Kathy Garvey:

Such a happy piece.  Her work is always so imaginative and fun!

 I had two more tiles:

This is dedicated to my friends Marian Collins and Pat Sams, both of whom have walked that long road into darkness before the light during rounds of chemo and radiation.  This tile is about the journey.

 

Its amazing how many wonderful people have stepped up to make this happen.  Folks who do not paint are donating the cost of a box of ceiling tiles and students and vacationers are generously toting them back and forth to Raleigh from the hometowns of artists all over the south.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to know that more centers were using art as part of the way they cared for patients who are undergoing tedious and frightening treatments?  Contact Amy Jo via her Facebook page if you want to know how she got started.