To date, Living Proof Exhibit has provided free Creative Sessions to more than 2,400 participants in the Quad-Cities and Muscatine. The art sessions are free of charge and open to anyone affected by cancer, and at any artistic skill level.
Two upcoming sessions are:
· Acrylic Painting, with instructor Gina Kirschbaum, Tuesday, June 8, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Quad City Botanical Center, Rock Island.
· Polymer Clay Pendants, with instructor Marla Andich, Thursday, June 10, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Muscatine Art Center.
Both are hybrid sessions, where they have spots for in-person participants and for virtual attendees through Zoom. The Muscatine session is limited to 10 people, who will be socially distanced, and masks are encouraged, but not required. Jordan Kirkbride, LPE programming manager, says Living Proof has partnered with Muscatine Art Center since 2016, but it’s been more than a year since a creative session has been held there.
“They’ve hosted our creative sessions and our exhibition, and the creative sessions, we provide those free of charge to anyone impacted by cancer, so that can be patients or survivors, their family, oncology nurses, basically anyone touched by cancer and those are meant to provide sort of an outlet, or a way to learn a new skill, that can help someone cope with the stress of cancer.”
Because of Covid, most LPE creative sessions were done by Zoom for 2020, and many have participated that way this year so far.
“I think there were a few that were in person, but spread out and outside. But we didn't have really the chance to hold classes in Muscatine in 2020. So we're excited to be back there. But with things opening back up, we are still offering sections virtually. We're doing a sort of hybrid thing where you can either come in person or you can join over Zoom or Facebook Live.”
LPE provides materials and art supplies for people, and if done virtually, they can be picked up at their office, or at the Muscatine Art Center People can register up until noon the day of the session for in-person, or the day before for virtual participants, so they have time to come pick up their supplies.
Kirkbride says a bilingual interactive song session at Muscatine Art Center May 13 had to be postponed for later this summer.
“Unfortunately, that one we had to postpone do just some unforeseen circumstances but we're hoping to get that one rescheduled for the summer sometime. That one, our instructor will be joining us virtually from Portland and she'll just be leading us through some folk songs in both English and Spanish.”
As more people get vaccinated, the attendance at creative sessions is increasing.
“I do think that the vaccinations will make a difference in in-person attendance. We had six people at the paper-making session this month and we were still masked and socially distanced, just in case there was someone that didn't have a vaccine, but I do think people are starting to feel more comfortable.”
She says even if people don’t have artistic ability, they can take pride and comfort in the simple, low-stress creative sessions.
“Like you're not trying to create some elaborate vase or like an oil painting, that should be hung in a museum. You're just learning something that can help you kind of detach from the stressful moments and you can just focus on creating -- even if you think you’re not very good or you’ve never an art class before that. That really doesn't matter if you can just zone in on what you're creating.”
Often, participants come in with a friend or family member, to do the activity together.
“I think that people will come alone, but a lot of times they'll come with a friend who has supported them on their journey, or we had a family in March for a watercolor session - it was a mother, a son and then grandma - they were all together and it was it was really nice to see a generational support system there.”
Living Proof Exhibit provides the therapeutic benefits of the arts to those affected by cancer, including patients, survivors, families, and caregivers. In addition to creative sessions, it offers exhibitions of art created by cancer survivors each year, permanent rotating exhibitions at the cancer centers, art-to-go projects for patients and their families, as well as using Beam Pro technology to share the exhibitions at the Figge Art Museum with patients receiving treatment at the cancer centers. You can subscribe to the Living Proof YouTube channel to view virtual Creative Sessions that you can follow along in the comfort of your home.
For more information, visit livingproofexhibit.org.
