The wonderful Stephanie Sturgis from HANG IT art gallery in Minneapolis had a very successful KAB Community outreach event last week, here is what she has to say..
Being a curator for an art gallery, I am always looking for new ideas for art shows in my gallery. A few years ago while doing a search on the internet, I came across Keep A Breast and immediately new that I needed to do an art show representing their cause. Being a young female with two maternal aunts that have had breast cancer both at a young age the cause is close to my heart. This is how ” The Breast in Show” started….
The first woman that I cast was 28 years old and just diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer after being tested positive for the breast cancer gene. I casted her a couple days before her double mastectomy. She took her cast with her throughout all of her treatments and recovery and we had it decorated 1 week before our opening. It was very emotional for her to see her cast with all of its beauty and meet her artist, a senior in high school. Her cast is going home with her and will continue to give her strength throughout her journey.
I continued casting women in their late 20’s to early 30’s who had not been diagnosed with breast cancer, but were connected to the cause in some way or another. I was spreading the word of living a healthy lifestyle, loving your body and checking yourself regularly.
Towards the end of my casting period, I was connected with a local breast cancer organization in Minnesota, The Breast Cancer Awareness Association of MN. I was able to cast several women who were breast cancer survivors and part of the organization. It was great hearing all of these women’s stories and how they are active in the breast cancer awareness community. Again, it was emotional for many of these women to see their decorated casts and meet the artists who did them.
At the opening, it was so much fun to see the women scan all of the casts and find theirs. We also were selling stars so that people could vote for the “Breast in Show”. The cast that won the “Breast in Show” was titled “Under the Microscope”. The design was of a breast cancer cell enlarged with the word “FIGHT”. The woman whose cast it was, is a 3 year survivor. She was diagnosed at stage 4 and told she did not have much time to live. She is now going on 3 years as a survivor, but was just re-diagnosed last week. Her daughter was able to do both the casting and painting of her cast.
In total we had 31 casts on display and 22 of them were sold to raise funds for Keep A Breast. It was a great event that got the word out about breast cancer in a very fun way.
Stephanie Sturgis
Gallery 122 at Hang It
Minneapolis, MN
“I truly LOVE the art on my torso cast & look forward to bringing the cast home when the show is over.”
-Christine Norton, 19 year breast cancer survivor, castee
“It was SUCH A WONDERFUL EVENING!!!!! All of the casts were fantastic….especially mine!!”
-Polly Krinski, 9 year breast cancer survivor, castee
“It was truly an honor to be a part of this event.”
-Rachel Johnson, castee
“It was really fun to see the wide variety of approaches to solving the same problem. It was truly a creative event.”
-Mary Jo Blanchard, artist
“I thought of this event as my “coming out” party…a little humor.”
-Marlene Miller, 2 year breast cancer survivor, castee
