CLEARFIELD – “Some see paint. Others see hope.”
That is the title of the Lilly Oncology on Canvas Art exhibition as it travels the country.
A free public open house featuring the exhibition will be held from 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Oct. 23, at the Nathaniel D. Yingling Cancer Center, 815 Doctors’ Dr., Clearfield.
Launched in 2004, Lilly Oncology on Canvas is a program sponsored by Lilly, a pharmaceutical company, in partnership with the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, or NCCS, which advocates for quality cancer care for all Americans and provides tools and resources that empower people affected by cancer to advocate for themselves.
Lilly Oncology on Canvas: Expressions of a Cancer Journey is an art competition and exhibition that honors the journeys people face when confronted with a cancer diagnosis.
It invites people from the United States and Puerto Rico, who are diagnosed with any type of cancer – as well as their families, friends, caregivers and healthcare providers – to express, through art and narrative, the life-affirming changes that give their cancer journeys meaning.
Art from the competition tours hospitals, cancer centers and cancer advocacy group events. To date, Oncology on Canvas has received more than 4,100 entries, with more expected to be added from the 2014 competition.
Winners are selected by an independent panel of judges, typically including past winners, cancer survivors, leading oncologists, journalists, representatives from patient advocacy groups and the competition art director. The end result is a compelling art collection that provides insights into the wide range of emotions experienced by those touched by cancer.
This year’s competition marks the sixth competition as well as the 10-year anniversary celebration.
“A patient advocate approached me over the last two years asking me if we could bring this to our community,” Laura Adams, director of the Nathaniel D. Yingling, M.D., Cancer Center, said. “This project was chosen because it articulates a cancer patient’s and caregiver’s journey as they go through treatment and beyond.”
“The artwork gives patients an opportunity to express their feelings of their cancer diagnosis. Patients undergoing a cancer diagnosis emotionally connect to another cancer patient; they form a support system both face to face and through expressions of art. Creating, viewing and talking about the disease can help patients and their loved ones cope with this serious illness,” Adams said.
During the open house Oct. 23, healthcare providers from the cancer center will be on hand to meet the public, including the new medical oncologist, Dr. Maofu Fu, with Oncology/Hematology Associates of Northern PA.
“For our community, this display of art work allows people to view and sensitize to the many emotions and barriers a cancer patient experiences,” Adams said. “All of us as community members have witnessed loved ones, neighbors or friends that have been diagnosed with cancer. I feel this display gives us the opportunity to reflect and support each other.”