Creating Hope

10/03/2009

Petrina Mc Donald

Inspiration behind the piece:

When deciding what to make for this project, I had a think about what it would be like for someone with cancer as they faced the long road of tests and treatment on their journey towards being cured. I have lost some close relatives and friends to cancer and currently have a good friend who is battling breast cancer. I was lucky enough to attend a “Look good feel better” workshop with this friend and as I looked around the room at all the brave women there I felt such a positive energy from them and I put it down to one thing: Faith. I believe all those women had a strong faith that they would be able to conquer this terrible disease. They had faith in the people running the workshop. They had faith in their doctors and in the people administering their treatment. They had faith that their families and friends could support them. Most of all they had faith in themselves – they had the strength within to fight.

I came away with a different perspective on cancer that day. Yes, it is a horrible disease, yes treatment is just awful (my friend with breast cancer assures me of this unfortunately), but with faith, people can find the strength within themselves to get through each day.

So I needed to find a way to portray faith. Of course faith can relate to a person’s religious beliefs or spirituality, but that is not the same for everyone. I decided that I couldn’t make this artwork for what other people believed; I had to make it for what I believed. For me, my religious beliefs support my idea of faith so I took this as a starting point. Strangely enough, it hasn’t come out as a religious piece at all! Sitting in church late one Sunday afternoon, I looked up into the dome behind the altar and got my little symbol of faith for my artwork. Circling around amongst the stained glass windows, were several swallows flitting here and there, chasing each other as they settled down for the evening. We see them often and they have little nests high up in the corners amongst the interior architecture. Those birds have not a care in the world – they are living amongst us and are making the most of their innate desire to find a place to live and be safe. They have a natural faith that no harm will come to them in this building and that all the people below them will just let them be. To me that is faith: knowing that you will be all right. The swallows have it. They don’t have to think about it. It is in them. And to me, if a person can have that sort of faith in them, they can gather the strength to be all right. And that is the reason I have created a little book of faith that is represented by the swallows I see in my church. It might not be a deep and meaningful representation of faith, but it is something that means faith to me. And aren’t swallows also a wonderful symbol of freedom and hope?

Details on the making of my piece:

Once I knew what symbol I would use to represent my idea the rest came easily. I chose some beautiful heavy weight Fabriano drawing paper and tore the six pages for my book. I wanted the edges to be torn to match the deckle edge of the paper. Each page was also scored along the top so that when the book was made it could be folded open easily.

Next I collaged on some pieces of dictionary paper (containing the definition of faith) to create a background of text. Small sections were washed over with some shellac to create an aged appearance. This was then painted over with a pastel primer to prepare my drawing surface.

The swallows have been drawn with a combination of graphite pencil and Derwent Pastel Pencils. A light spray of fixative has set the pastels.

To bind the book I created a spine from some aluminium shim. The edges of the shim were folded to make it neat and all the layers were sewn using my sewing machine with a very strong needle and cotton thread. Once it was sewn together I threaded a fine gauge wire through each hole to create a blanket stitch across the top. The cotton sewing thread was then removed with a stencil knife. Finally I used some more wire to create a hanging loop with a button attached to the top.

Posted at 09:35 AM in Charms, Stories | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

10/02/2009

Chris Millar

Inspiration: I decided to base my tag around the symbolic image of a rainbow. A rainbow is often seen as something to wish on and as a symbol of hope. My wish is that one day a cure will be found for this tragic disease and I hope that future generations will be spared the sadness and pain our generation and generations before us have felt because of cancer.

Creation: I heat embossed the Hero Arts rainbow stamp with white embossing ink onto beige cardstock. I used a Cuttlebug and Spellbinders Nestabilities circle and scalloped circle die cuts to create the shape of my tag. The word ‘hope’ is a Bo Bunny sticker and I finished off the tag with a Hero Arts button and flower and pearl gemstones around the scalloped circle.

Personal Story: I don’t have a personal story to tell, but I do know many friends and acquaintances that have felt the tragedy of cancer and I hope by taking part in fundraisers such as this one we can all help in a small way to contributing funds towards cancer research as well as showing compassion to those touched by the disease.

Posted at 06:44 AM in Charms | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

10/01/2009

Jen xo

ive lost two people close to me from cancer, lou, one of my craft girlfriends. she died at 36 from breast cancer, leaving a devoted hubby and 3 kids, 8, 4 and 1. She'd fought the cancer for 4 years but in the end it was just too aggressive.

and Joycey who was like another grandma to my kids. she lived next door, and was always available to help if i needed it when the girls were little. they loved playing paddocks, uno with her and pulling out her enormous frog collection...always a laugh and something nice in the cake tin. all joyce ever wanted was grandkids of her own but she died 5 months before her gd was born and 12mths after being diagnosed with lung cancer. her beloved hubby barry, nursed her till the end and moved away a few short weeks after she died.

the first week is august was really crappy... which is why i thought it might be therapeutic to make my tag.

a work colleague for over 20 yrs has just been diagnosed with bowel cancer while her hubby has been fighting melanoma for the past year.

a work colleague of my hubbys died after a long battle with bowel cancer...

and beautiful, fun filled nic died at 39 from a heart attack leaving behind her treasured 5 yr old girl. nic was joyceys daughter, so full of life and a real giver like her mum.
on sunday nights when my girls were little, they used to get into their jammies and go into joyces and they would get funky make up and hair done. joycies girls would pay them 50c for neck massages and play games with them. i'm sure it was the highlight of all their weeks.
the funeral was of course miserable and i wondered just how much heartache can a family cope with. to lose half your family in the space of 5 years, unfathomable, but, they have to keep going for the little one...

so my tag is dedicated to strength....

strength for those who are sick, that they can fight their illness by whatever means possible. that they have the strength to tell their dr that they want a second opinion or better treatment and strength to say i've had enough and to die with dignity.

strength for the carers like Baz who give their all and sacrifice their own health and wellbeing because that's what you do for someone you love who is sick.

strength for the caring medical profession who have to deal pain and suffering as an every day part of their jobs.

and finally strength for those left behind to deal with the trauma and aftermath of losing someone you love, especially when children are involved.

this tag is little approx 2", was smaller but it grew. i needle felted various scraps of lace, tulle and doilies. then painted some fused bubble wrap [future post] and stuck some dictionary words on. the string looked a bit , well, like string color so i painted it white and added some gold threads to match the lace.

Posted at 09:14 AM in Charms, Stories | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

09/30/2009

Terese Boost

Like many people, I have friends who have battled with cancer, and I myself have had what people would call a "cancer scare", even needing surgery to remove a large, benign (but painful) breast lump. However, there are many people who can write about these experiences much better than I can, so I'm going to share a different perspective with you.
In my work as a Cytologist, cancer is my focus, as it's my job to detect and diagnose cancers and pre-cancers. I use a microscope to examine glass slides holding tiny samples of cells (yes, the same glass slides you may have used to create altered art). We Cytologists are the scientists who screen your pap smears, and we have a big role in the breast screening program as well, screening the samples the doctors take if a lump is found in your breast. We do lots of other stuff too, but I think these two are the most important. You might think that would be a depressing sort of job, but we see every positive diagnosis as the first step in the process of treatment, hopefully ending in a cure. Cervical cancer in particular is extremely treatable, and with the screening program we detect lesions before they can become cancer. So every lesion I find is one woman who won't get cervical cancer.
My message is very simple - Please don't put off your screening! Have regular mammograms, and make sure you are up to date with your pap smears. I know these are not exactly enjoyable(!), but early detection really can save lives. Don't be 'too busy' to look after yourself. And please, please don't put off going to the doctor if you find a lump, because you are worried about the result. It's probably normal! Most of the breast specimens we screen are benign (normal), so the sooner you get it checked, the sooner your mind can be at ease. And if the worst happens and the lump isn't normal, finding it early can make a big difference to the type and success of your treatment. The more specific the diagnosis, the better the treatment can be directed.
Pathology is all about gathering intelligence in the fight against cancer, and we aim to win! Every day, research helps us refine diagnoses and improve treatments, so this is a cause about which I feel very strongly indeed.