Mother's Mask

When I was studying for my degree my tutor gave me some of the best advice regarding my art work - she told me that my art should be about what I love, what I know and what speaks to me. This is probably the most personal piece of artwork I have created.

Last summer after a two year battle my mother was diagnosed with terminal mouth cancer. After undergoing some major surgery and radiotherapy my mother gave me her radiotherapy mask and asked me to make a piece of art from it. Initially I just sat and stared at the mask. I wanted to create a piece of work that spoke of my mothers battles, support, loss of identity, loss of voice, hope, love, courage, love of tea and the terrible disease that is cancer. How do you get all of that into one piece? And more importantly create a piece that motivates and encourages my mother to keep up the fight and not focus of the dreadfulness if this disease. I continued to just stare at the mask.

After a few conversations and fun day out with my mother I decided that I needed to get to work. I think my mother was beginning to think the mask had got buried in the studio and would not emerge again!!!

I decided I would make a piece that emphasised the key issues that I felt my mother was going through:

1. the loss of her voice- by this I don't mean literally, after several operations and the loss of half of her tongue my mothers speech is not as clear as it used to be. This can be just as frustrating for the family as it is for my mother - especially when you are out shopping and the shop assistant talks to you rather than respond to my mother when she asks for something. It is as though people assume that she has no cognitive functions, I cannot imagine how frustrating this must make my mother feel at times.

2. the disfigurement of the surgery

3. the amount of medication my mother has to take

4. the amazing battle and survival of four major operations - averaging around 7 hours each

5. the support from her family

6. my mother love of tea

This is what I have started to make. It is not quite finished as I have to make another part to complete the installation. I hope that this piece shows people how strong you can be, how amazing the human body is and how above all, if you have the love and support of some good people, how anything is possible.

The mask - this is the mask in it's raw state. My mother was screwed down to a table for ten minutes at a time wearing this whilst undergoing her  radiotherapy

Side view of the mask

Back view of the mask

I decided to collect the backs of my mother prescriptions and link these together to make a thread that I could weave with. I used these to weave the torso and face part of the mask. You can see snippets of the medication name, dosage, name etc as you look across the mask

The two side patches and two top head patches have been weaved with bright coloured thread, representing my mothers four children and the support that they offer.
The bright lights shining around

The medal denotes the dates of the four major operation my mother has undergone with the Blue mouth cancer ribbon hanging underneath

As a result of the operation my mother has to feed through a tube however one substance that my mother has been able to hang onto is her cup of tea. As a child I would buy scraps of fabric and old cloths from second hand markets and make toys, and objects out of then. I wanted the tea cup to reflect this activity - something that my mother encouraged.

The mouth is slightly to the side, denoting the disfigurement from the surgery with strands growing out from it. This is  "Lucifer" , which is the name my mother has given her tumour. The black line that goes around the face, mimics the scar that has been left from the surgery

All in all I have tried to make a piece that reflects some difficult issues but that also has a hidden beauty to it, a positive message and a sense of pride of how
incredibly brave my mother is.

At my husbands birthday I got to show my mother the progress of the mask. As you can imagine this was quite emotional, but I was just as pleased as I was shocked, when my mother picked the mask up and put it on.

This year my mother is taking part in the Race for Life for the third time. I cannot put into words how proud and inspired I am by her. Despite all of what she is going through she will be not only raising money but sharing in the hope, courage and inspiration of the thousands of people that will be taking part. Please take a moment and have a look at my mother's sponsor page, https://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/susanhewett and if you can please donate, even if it can only be small amount. I know it would mean the world to my mother to know that she has raised money to support the fight against this awful disease. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.

Christmas Craft No 6 - Christmas Cancer Ribbons

For those of you that follow me on my blog, facebook or twitter, you will be aware that my Mother and Sister are both battling cancer. So for day 6 of my Christmas Crafts 7 day challenge I wanted to make something that promotes awareness as well as celebrate how proud I am of both of them. The solution - felt Christmas cancer ribbon brooches.

To make these you will need:

Felt material in multi colours, pencil, sewing thread, needles, scissors and a ribbon template. I have sewn safety pins on the back for attaching but you can purchase a range of backing from a good haberdashery or market stall.

Cut out the template and draw around this using a pencil on a piece of pink felt (or the colour of your choice. You will find a list of all the different colour ribbons on this website http://www.cancer-services.com/cancer_awareness.asp) You will need to cut out two ribbons - to save time you can fold the felt material in half and cut two out together. Next decide if you are going to embroider any words or images on your ribbon, as this will need to be completed before the two ribbons are sewn together. I have chosen to use the "Live Laugh Love" motto and embroidered this on each ribbon in black so that it is clear to read. You could embroider someones names or a message of thanks, hope or support. On the middle ribbon in the picture below I have embroidered a piece of holly rather than adding on a "Christmas topper".

Once you have completed your embroidery work, sew your ribbons together. I have chosen to use the blanket stitch as I think it give a nice finish. If you are not a confident sewer, you could always use fabric glue and glue the pieces together. I would avoid using PVA glue as this can make the fabric messy, dries hard on the fabric and makes it impossible to sew if you change your mind.

On the other ribbons I have added a Christmas toppers such as a snowman, a Christmas tree, a Christmas bell and Santa's Hat. I did not make any templates for these, just cutting the required shapes from the felt material - This has always been my working process. If you find this a bit tough, there are numerous websites that have templates that you can shrink down on a photocopier to the size required have a look on http://daniellesplace.com/html/paper_dolls.html for some fab ideas- if you get really stuck let me know and I will post a template or two.

I have added a picture of the ribbon template I used to make the ones pictured below. Your finished pieces do not have to end up as brooches, why not make some unique tree decorations, a Christmas banner or add some perfume for a car freshner.

 The set of Felt ribbons, with the "live, Laugh, Love" motto sewn on them.

 The template I used to cut out the ribbon from pink felt material

 Close up of Felt "Christmas Bell" Ribbon

 Close up of "Santa's Hat" ribbon

 Close up of embroidered "Holly" ribbon

 Close up of "Snowman" ribbon

Close up of "Christmas Tree" ribbon

So get your needle and thread out and have a go at making your own unique Christmas ribbon brooch/or tree decoration.

Cancer Research UK is the world's leading charity dedicated to beating cancer through research. Why not have a look at some of the beautiful items you can purchase for gifts this year on the Cancer Research website http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/ and see how you can help make a difference to thousands of peoples lives

Keep up the fight

As an artist I am influenced by many different things, everyday situations, colours in the sunlight, a song on the radio, other artists etc etc. However one of my main influences has to be my amazing family. Today, in the pouring rain, my mother, sister and nieces took part in the race for life along with an additional 4000 people. "What is so amazing about that?" I hear you ask.

My sister was diagnosed with Breast Cancer a year ago and has had to undergo a year of treatment including an operation, chemo therapy, radio therapy and a lot of discomfort. My mother is battling her 3rd (yes that was not a typo) her 3rd cancer - Mouth cancer having already beaten cervical and breast cancer. My mum has had to endure a series of intense operations that have included breaking her jaw, inserting metal plates, removing parts of her tongue and leaving her in a lot of discomfort and unable to eat properly.

Both my Sister and Mother have such strength and positive attitudes, it must be unbearable for them some days but they always carry themselves with such grace and courage, I am so proud of both of them.

 I have tried to portray how in awe I am other both my sister and mother's strength they have shown not just for themselves but for their family throughout their battle in the art work pictured below. I also wanted to create something that shows the strength, courage and community spirit that is in abundance on days such as the Race for Life - to honour all who take part.

The pictures below show a canvas that was made by taking rubbings of the runners/walkers trainer soles and gluing them in the shape of the ribbon sign. Around the outside of the ribbon participants wrote messages for loved ones that are battling cancer and loved ones that have sadly departed this world. Some people wanted to write messages of hope for cures. Others noted bravery and thanks for support given. In fact I was amazed at how many people have been affected and touched by someone who is battling or unfortunately lost the battle of cancer. Some people were writing messages for 4-5 people. We had so many people wanting to write messages we had to continue into a book as you can see from the picture below, the canvas was filled up in no time.

 

 My niece writing her comments on the canvas

 The completed canvas

 In addition to the canvas above I have created some paper collages using a range of paper engineering techniques that discuss the personal battles my mother and sister have fought as well as investigating the medium of paper and technique of frottage. 

 3 Cancers. In this piece I have used pieces of the three cancers my mother has had (be it pictures of the actual cancer sourced for the Internet or pictures taken directly after my mothers surgery). The cancer cells are extremely beautiful under a microscope and have amazing shape and line to them which I find quite ironic for something that is so destructive and deadly. The paper craft techniques include iris folding, collage and star bursts.

 Mums arm after surgery - A drawing of my mothers arm after an operation that included taking a a lump of skin from my mums arm to rebuild her tongue. The orange background was a rubbing taken from inside the hospital and the green shapes and rubbings from objects that represent all of my mothers children and grandchildren. Once again I have tried to concentrate on the aesthetic beauty juxtaposed to cancers brutality.

 Mums Collage

 Nicks Collage

 Haircut - in this piece I have used a papercraft cage to disguise an image of my sister having her head shaved during her chemo. This was a very emotional day for my sister and once again, I was overwhelmed by how brave she was and how she was more concerned about me than herself. I have used frottage to create images of cancer cells taken for textured surfaces around our houses. The papercage is not used to hide my sister but to encourage the viewer to take a closer look, to look beyond the haircut and see the person inside.

My amazing Mother and Sister

I really hope that days like today continue to emphasise how important it is to support research, to support our hospitals, our nurses, surgeons and amazing Macmillan nurses to find a cure for cancer, new medications and treatments that ease the suffering and pain cancer patients have to endure.

If you have not already donated to this cause please donate anything you can to http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/ every penny really does help.