WHEN ART, LIFE COLLIDE
Artist continues co-ordinating program despite her own diagnosis
Artist continues co-ordinating program despite her own diagnosis.
In her years of helping those diagnosed with cancer to use art to contend with their illness, Catherine Moir never thought she would use the program herself.
In February, the Sydney Forks artist, who has for seven years co-ordinated the Art of Living program that brings artists and cancer patients together to produce therapeutic art, was herself diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I finished the last chemo two weeks ago so I’m getting there,” she said in a phone interview. “I have to get another surgery — I have to have my lymph nodes removed. And then after that probably radiation and besides that I have to take hormones but everything is looking good as far as it looks like the right thing to do.”
It’s been an exhausting few months, but Moir is putting a positive slant on the experience.
“It’s such an ironic thing — I’ve been working there for about seven years and now I have it too,” she says, adding that even for her, as an artist,
there’s still more for her to learn from the program and its participants.
“I’m triply involved in the program this year because I am the program co-ordinator and I’m also a participant and also an artist mentor.”
There are nine people including Moir taking this year’s program. One person left the program because they had to spend considerable time in Halifax and one person died. Despite her diagnosis, Moir initially had no intention of being involved in the program herself until one of the participants left the program and photographer Kris Tynski was left with no one to mentor.
“So I thought, you know what — if I had a photographer like Kris as a mentor, I would probably put something in. So I called him up and asked him, ‘do you want to have me since you don’t have anyone?’ — and he was really happy about that and then I had it all planned, I knew exactly what I wanted from Kris. He didn’t get much leeway but he did all the photographs and I did a series called “The Events” and made it into a collage and it’s all the things that you have to go through with your diagnosis of breast cancer up to this point. That’s what I did with Kris and I also did a painting myself.”
Being in the program as a participant has given Moir a unique perspective on the program. But it hasn’t changed her feelings about its validity.
“It’s art therapy that we do — we’re not teaching people art — we’re doing what they want us to do so the artists are like tools and the participants use our skills to express what they want to express so that is very therapeutic,” says Moir.
“I found it therapeutic even before because the people are so amazing. It gave me a real insight into courage and the tenacity of human spirit to want to stay cheerful.”
However, the extreme tiredness caused by cancer and its treatment has made the program even more important since it’s helping Moir maintain her creativity at a difficult time.
“I haven’t done a lot art since I’ve been too tired just to get myself going. That’s why I wanted to be in the program because if you are, you have somebody who will come over and do it with you and so you do it. That’s why the program is so important — you can’t just give people a book and say go and do something. Normally when you’re sick like this you’re not going to be using your creativity that much … to have the program to get me going is really a big help.”
If you want to see the other works created by Moir and those involved in the program, you’ll have to go to the exhibit, which opens Thursday, June 28, at 6 p.m. and continues until July 14 at the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design, upstairs loft.
While Moir co-ordinates the event, even she doesn’t know what everything will look like since each participant has held a piece back that won’t be shown until the show. But she has every confidence it will be well worth seeing.
“They’re doing great.”
“It’s art therapy that we do — we’re not teaching people art — we’re doing what they want us to do so the artists are like tools and the participants use our skills to express what they want to express so that is very therapeutic.’’
Catherine Moir