Tag Archives: art for cancer foundation

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Hot off the press

The new Art for Cancer Foundation book is ready to order!

In Their Words Through Their Eyes, By Their Hands can be ordered through Blurb. This book is a collection of works that were on display at Toronto City Hall last February. Many of the works were generated in the Art for Cancer workshops offered throughout the city.

There’s some beautiful art work in this volume (and a little piece by moi). Please do consider ordering one for yourself, one for a friend and one for your local cancer hospital.

In the words of the Art for Cancer Foundation website:

In February 2012, the ART for Cancer Foundation held a week long exhibit at Toronto City Hall with the goal of continuing to raise awareness of the power of the creative process as a healing force.

The art exhibit was a wonderful kaleidoscope of colour, texture, shapes, and images, each uniquely demonstrating the healing power of art. Many participants shared their personal stories, which brought a level of depth and meaning far beyond the aesthetics of the art.

There were so many incredible stories of courage and hope that the one week exhibit did not do them justice! This book is a collection of their stories- in their own words, and their art – through their eyes and by their hands.

 

If you live in the Toronto area, the Foundation is offering all sorts of cool workshops this month.

Enjoy!

Sam

 

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Art for Cancer Foundation Gala

The Art for Cancer Foundation in Toronto continues to be very active. You can follow them (and even better you can like them on Facebook – they are trying to reach 500 ‘likes’).

A gala evening is being held on October 27th as a major fundraiser for the programs that they run. View their website for more information. You could have a gourmet meal, entertainment and dancing and raise money for a good cause.

The next workshop with acrylic paints is September 24 in Toronto. For more information follow this link.

And most exciting (because it has to do with me of course) is the upcoming publication of the book In Their Words, Through  Their Eyes, By Their Hands. This book is a collection of  art and writing from participants and supporters of the Art for Cancer Foundation Programs.  And yes, you will find my painting and one of my poems in this book (and yes I am happy to autograph as many copies as you want.) Here is the trailer for the book (This link will also take you to further information)


Sam

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Ultra Sounds Monday, April 23, 2012

I hope you are having a wonderful Monday.

Today I present you with our first ever painting here on Ultra Sounds.  I am so pleased that it comes from Cid Palacio, the founder of ART for Cancer Foundation in Toronto. Cid was the one to invite me to the art workshop where I created my oeuvre (or is that hors d’oeuvre).

I find this painting extraordinary and haunting. It resonates with me both as the daughter of a cancer patient and as a patient myself. I will let Cid describe it to you in her own words.

Sam

 

 

I created this piece around my experience as a caregiver to my parents and their cancer journey.

They climbed a steep mountain and in my mother’s case a series of steep mountains.

While they were climbing, they did not always see the summit, but knew they had to keep on climbing and have hope and faith that reaching the summit would free them from pain.

While they were climbing, they knew that they were not alone, there were many others on that same journey, and yet they also knew that this was a journey where each step only they could take, as their loved ones and friends supported them from the side lines.

Cid Palacio

Founder of the ART for Cancer Foundation

…where Heart connects with Art for Creativity and Hope

 

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Publication, Publicity, Art and Riding for a cure

Hi all,

I have so much to share today to catch you up. Be sure to read all the way through!

I will start by shamelessly promoting my own work. If you visit the current issue of Edible Toronto,  you will find an article I wrote about Marianne Moroney, hot dog lady extraordinaire. Marianne submitted a beautiful piece to Ultra Sounds a few months ago about what it was like to serve up food to cancer patients in Toronto.

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A while back I  wrote a posting about Amy Marash, a journalist from Washington, D.C. who does very funny cancer cartoons. Recently Amy was featured on a TV interview in Washington promoting her book “Cancer is SO FUNNY”. You can watch her here.

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If you were inspired by the artistic masterpiece that I shared with you a few months ago and you live in the Toronto area, there is an upcoming workshop with the ART for cancer foundation on April 23.

ART for Cancer Foundation workshop

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There are some competition deadlines approaching:

- The Cancer Council Victorial awards in Australia are open to everyone and there are prizes in a variety of mediums. These submissions are due April 27.

- The Cancer Poetry Project submissions are due April 30.

- Registration for the Lilly Oncology Canvas Competition is due by April 30 (although submissions are not due until June 29).

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Last, but not least, I have a good friend who is participating in a fundraiser for Princess Margaret Hospital – my home away from home. Here is his letter. If you would like to sponsor him, know that you are supporting a tremendous hospital that plays a central role in the lives of thousands of Canadians.

Paul writes:

Hi Everybody,

Again this year I am doing the Ride to Conquer Cancer. To catch you up, this is a 200K bike ride over a 2 day period from Toronto to Niagara Falls in support of treatment and research at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto.  Last year 4700 riders participated and raised a new record high for a single event of 17 million dollars. I personally raised $6500.
I am now approaching my fifth year since diagnosis and fourth year since the stem cell transplant. I believe that many factors have contributed to my recovery but the biggest factor was the treatment I had at PMH. Ten years ago I may not have been so lucky. While I also believe that not nearly enough is being done to address the causes of cancer, places like PMH are finding miraculous ways to extend peoples lives and help them live with cancer with a reasonable quality of life.
The ride gives me motivation to train and stay fit which is a highly recommended way to stave off any reoccurrence. It also makes me feel like I’m giving something back to the place that has essentially saved my life. If this is a cause that resonates with you please help out with any amount you can by clicking the link below and going to my donation page. Thank-you so much in advance!
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Ultra Sounds Monday, March 12, 2012

Today’s submission comes from a talented photographer, Dorit Fuhg, from the UK. She is  a member of the Art for Cancer Group, a global group of artists committed to donating a portion of their sales to cancer charities.

I love the way these photos make me feel (and have hinted broadly to my husband that I wouldn’t mind these pictures as a birthday present).  I first had the chance to enjoy these photos at the Art For Cancer Foundation Show in Toronto.  You can see more of Dorit’s wonderful work here.

Here’s her story in her own words:

I have been taking photographs for the past 11 years and my passion for it grows from day to day. My main goal is to capture the overall mood of a scene as well as the essence of a thing, always trying to bring out the subject’s personality and uniqueness. 

When my dad passed away after a long and painful battle with colon cancer, the only way I could cope with the loss was to immerse myself in photography. The photographs I take are, to a certain extend, an homage to my dad and his love of and care for nature, which he passed onto me; and I’m very grateful for that.

DONATION:

All proceeds from the sale of this artwork go to the Art for Cancer Foundation

 

Enjoy!

Sam

 

Wild Thing 1

 

Wild Thing 2

 

 

Wild Thing 3

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Art for Cancer Foundation Art Show

 

The Lady In Blue by Jyne Greenley – from the ART For Cancer Foundation art show

 

 

I was able to attend the ART for Cancer Foundation art show opening last Friday night at Toronto City Hall. It was very exciting to see my painting framed and the accompanying poem in print. Sadly I did not get a picture for you all to see.

Taken as a whole there was a tremendous body of work there. The stories represented at the show were powerful and often sad. At the same time, each of them had a component of joy as expressed through the art work. People who had never done anything creative found that they had an unexpected creative muse lying in wait. Others who had already been creating found tremendous comfort and healing from continuing with their efforts.

Walking through and breathing in these stories was an intense experience, but, I also felt, a hopeful one. As if the power of the art could transcend the illness.

The ART for Cancer foundation has many new workshops and events coming up. Do go and check out their site.

 

Sam

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Sideways support groups

I’m not really a support group kind of gal. I have nothing against support groups. In fact there is an excellent support group called the Canadian Amyloidosis Support Network that is an amazing resource and advocacy group for people with my illness (
http://thecasn.org/
) . It’s just that even though I’m one of them, I don’t always like to go and hang out with sick people.

But at the Art for Cancer Foundation workshop that I attended a few weeks ago, I caught a glimmer of how a support network might be helpful. The focus of the day was on our art work, but while working away, we began to speak about our own experiences. In the break while we looked over our initial paintings, we compared notes. “Oh you go to the chemo unit on Fridays! I’m there on Tuesdays. What do you think of the new design?”

It was an indirect  manner of connecting with people – kind of like when you do dishes with someone. Somehow not looking at each other and having something to occupy your hands lends itself to opening up.  The art, while lovely in and of itself,  became the excuse for being together and connecting across the differences in ages and health. It was like getting support sideways.

So maybe I could say I am a sideways support group kind of gal (just don’t call it a support group).

Sam

 

ps – Tomorrow night is the opening of the Art for Cancer Show at Toronto City Hall. For more information go to 
http://artforcancerfoundation.org/

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My first art workshop – Art for Cancer Foundation

Monday morning found me in the top floor of a little art school in Toronto. My apron was on, brush was in hand ready to paint with acrylics for the first time in my life. Around me were seven other participants ranging from a woman of 22 to a woman with 23 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. All of them were cancer survivors or, as one woman described herself, a cancer warrior.

We were introduced to some basic painting techniques and given time to play. We started with black and white, which was a fun challenge. I created a painting called “The Black Hole”. Through this painting I meant to evoke the feelings I have sometimes in the waiting rooms at the chemo unit.

Then we were given the chance to play with colour. Oh how fun to mix colours to try to find that perfect shade of green or orange. And how fun to work with paints that you can slather on with a palette to create great textures and layers of shading.

Here is a picture of my oeuvre.  I call it “From my canoe” What it lacks in talent, it makes up for in energy and quantity of paint used.

 

Here is a link to a video that was made at the workshop if you want to see some of the other art work created.



 

Check out the Art for Cancer Foundation website for information about upcoming workshops 
http://artforcancerfoundation.org/

and don’t forget about the exhibition at Toronto City Hall on February 17 – 24. You will see my masterpiece hanging there.


http://artforcancerfoundation.org/join-us-2/upcoming-events/toronto-city-hall-event/

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Art for Cancer Foundation

Hi all,

Happy Saturday!

I am going to attend my very first art workshop on January 23 with the Art for Cancer Foundation. They are offering a workshop called “Creating From Within” in Toronto. You can find out more about this organization and the workshop here: 
http://artforcancerfoundation.org/

I haven’t taken any kind of art course or workshop since I was forced to take grade 10 art with a witchy teacher who basically told me I had no talent. I look forward to sharing my experience with you all and telling you more about the organization at that time.  In the meantime,  I’m just squirming with delight to think about creating something with my own hands.

Enjoy your weekend.

Sam