Kay Minto
Nike of Mastectomy
lava rock and aluminum
Art.Rage.Us breast cancer exhibit opens Friday at Dennos Museum
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
"Looking back at me in the mirror was this bald, one-breasted woman. I had to get used to this strange new head and body, so I put it on paper."
- Sylvia Colette Gehres, Reflection, pastel, 1995
With searing images in pictures and in words, the Art.Rage.Us exhibit at the Dennos Museum opened Friday evening with a benefit gala for Munson's Navigator program that drew nearly 300 attendees.
The exhibit features works created by women from around the country who have struggled with breast cancer - some still alive and some who have died. Their raw words and resonant images give viewers a glimpse into the upheavals of mind, body, spirit and family that ensue after hearing those three small words: "it was malignant." Or "you have cancer."
"I have looked this way
Before -
Flat-chested, pencil-thin
When I was 10
Strange it is to seem
A sexless child
Again
(Too bad about
The graying hair
And slightly sagging chin)"
- Lois Tschetter Hjelmstad, Double Amputee, poem, July 1991
Art.Rage.Us is dedicated to raising awareness about the disease, its prevention and treatment and to giving women with breast cancer a voice to speak out - no more 'whispers' or silence or shame.
Artwork in the exhibit include all media, mixed and straight up: pastels, appliqu‚, quilting, ceramic, sculpture, photographs and colored pencil on wood. The names of the pieces are varied ranging from the stark - "Deadly Myths," "Biopsy Preparation," "I was only 38," and "Seven Out of Eight Don't" - to the lyrical - "Persephone's Return," "Mother and Child" and "Selkie and the Seal-Woman."
"By the way we live, by the way we speak out, we can encourage life around us," said Merijane Block of San Francisco, the keynote speaker for the Art.Rage.Us opening benefit gala. "In doing so, we can encourage ourselves and those around us."
"Breast cancer is not just a personal tragedy or a private secret but a public health crisis that demands the attention of society as a whole," she said.
Block was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1991 and describes herself as a fighter, more than a survivor. She helped begin the Art.Rage.Us project in 1996 with other artists and breast cancer survivors. As they refined their vision, the call soon went out nationwide for entries. More than 500 were received.
Culling the exhibit down to 80 works, Art.Rage.Us opened in San Francisco in 1998. The Traverse City showing is its fifth, with previous stops in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and New Orleans.
Block sparkles with life as she talks about Art.Rage.Us. She is thrilled at the opportunity the exhibit provides to spread the word about breast cancer - including environmental causes - break the silence and help women find their unique ways of coping.
"When I first walk into the gallery and see the exhibit, it makes my heart sing, it is so much a part of me," Block said. "Breast cancer is what made me a speaker and activist today."
"There was a moment when I was writing through my struggle when two words came up: fearless self-expression," she recalled. "That will save me, not my life, but my soul."
It took two years of planning and coordination among Dennos Museum staff, community members and members of the Breast Cancer Fund to bring the exhibit to Traverse City. The exhibit is managed by the Breast Cancer Fund of San Francisco, a 10-year-old non-profit organization. The Les and Anne Biederman Foundation and the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs funded the local exhibit.
The seed for the exhibit was planted two years ago when Ruth Ann LaMott received the book Art.Rage.Us from her then boss, Steve Balance, former chair of the Art Department at Northwestern Michigan College. A cancer survivor and mentor to other women with breast cancer, the Traverse City resident took the book to a survivor's meeting. The images and words in the book captivated the women.
They were determined to bring this exhibit to the area and eventually approached the Dennos Museum. Kathleen Buday, curator of education and interpretation for the museum, threw herself into the process of coordinating the exhibit, helped by volunteers and volunteer mentors of the Navigator program.
"This exhibit was truly a groundswell movement of women in this community who cared about with breast cancer," said Mary Raymer, a psychological consultant to Munson's Navigator program. "This exhibit is a powerful, powerful statement that the days of whispering about breast cancer are over."
The exhibit also features a Wall of Celebration, where local women share their thoughts and images about their struggle with breast cancer, which affects one in eight women nationwide and is the number one killer of women ages 34-54.
"This is exhibit is very, very powerful when we see it," said LaMott. "There are a lot of breast cancer survivors in the audience tonight and I think one of the most popular things will be the wall of survivors."
Lois Tschetter Hjelmstad of Denver was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1991 and subsequently had two mastectomies. She published a book about her battle with cancer called "Fine Black Lines" in 1993 and has given more than 400 presentations around the country since 1994 related to breast cancer.
With four poems included in Art.Rage.Us, Hjelmstad said writing helped her cope with all aspects of breast cancer, giving her an avenue to express her fear, anger and hope.
"Writing was a coping mechanism in a way to start with, but the process of healing has been helped by it," said Hjelmstad.
Marilyn Kaminsky Miller
Me
Clay, stains and acrylics
Pam Golden
Facing Breast Cancer, Johna Becomes a Birch Tree
mixed media
Heather Ann Gilchrist
I Want to Live Until I am an Old Lady
mixed media/ shadow box
