The Art of Healing

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Those interested in taking the Red Paper art class or similar classes can check into these options. All are free.

For breast cancer survivor Kym Yahn, art has been a life-saver.

“The fear, uncertainty and overwhelming anguish was almost too much to bear,” says Yahn, who was diagnosed last December. “But in the midst of all the chaos that comes from receiving such a devastating diagnosis, I’ve rediscovered my inner artist.”

She isn’t the only one. Many cancer patients and their families are realizing that art classes, designed with survivors in mind, can be invaluable.

Yahn began by taking a weekend class to create an art journal through a process known as “altered books.”

“The concept is wonderfully simple,” she explains. “Using a large hardback book as my canvas, I painted and wrote about my cancer experience. For me, the class became a spiritual retreat — accompanied by the smell of paint. I became totally immersed in the creative process as I poured my emotions into the pages of my book. For those few days my pain, my fear and my anger found an outlet that brought me a sense of calm and control.”

Yahn, who lives in Bethel Twp. Miami County, continues to paint in both her art journal and on canvas. She’s learning new techniques to refresh her skills and she’s even created a “mini-studio” in her guest room.

“I believe art has the power to heal,” Yahn says. “My body may have been transformed by cancer, but my spirit is being awakened through my art.”

Red Paper Classes Benefit Patients and Families

It was the loss of a close friend in 2003 that first inspired artist Lucile Nagy Carroll to create her Red Paper Art Classes for those with life-altering illnesses.

“After witnessing how my friend’s artwork helped while she was ill and through my own challenges, I realized that art helped us handle our difficulties,”says Carroll, best known for her still-life pastels and paintings. “I feel everyone has some creative ability and just needs a little help in experiencing it.”

Carroll’s gift to the community continues to blossom through art classes around town which she helps to facilitate. Other artists contribute as well.

“I am not an art therapist but this is art as therapy,” says Carroll, a former oncology nurse. “What I have witnessed — no matter the degree of artistic ability — is people making friends, reaching out to others with their stories, and just laughing and enjoying themselves and leaving their situations behind for a time.

The creative art sessions are offered at various locations throughout the Miami Valley: The Town & Country Fine Arts Center in Kettering’s Town & Country Shopping Center, St. Charles Church in Kettering, and the University of Dayton’s Lifelong Learning Institute.

In partnership with The Cancer Support Community Western Ohio, the Town & Country gallery also offered a series at the Kettering facility which received funding from the Ohio Arts Council.

“Research into how the arts can promote wellness and healing, both as an observer and a participant, is significant and the findings are compelling,” says Julie Henahan, executive director of the OAC. “From pain reduction and decreased anxiety to fewer doctor’s visits and a better functioning immune system, there is more and more evidence that the arts are a critical component of the holistic human experience.”

Town & Country’s gallery director Trish McKinney says the instructors make their art come alive for people who have never created before and to some who have forgotten their creativity.

“All these things are done in the hope that they may ease their pain through art,” she says, adding that the classes include lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on learning depending on the instructor. ” Often times we think we are to show up to teach. If we are listening and aware, we become the students and are forever changed.”

CADC Offers new free program

At the moment, Carroll is helping to create a new expressive art class for patients and their families at the CADC Art Gallery in downtown Dayton. The Art Benefits classes are being given in conjunction with oncologist Dr. Basel Yanes and his Dayton Blood and Cancer Center staff.

“When I read what Dr. Basel Yanes wanted to do I thought it a perfect way to continue this work,” says Carroll, who says she’s happy to help set up the new class because she continues to witness the fun and benefits each session provides.

Tuesday night proved a case in point as a group of women were seated around tables in the gallery, paint brushes in hand. Some said they hadn’t created art for decades.

“I felt this would be a release and expression of my feelings,” said Myrna Nelson of Kettering, whose watercolor painting incorporated the first initial of each of her grandchildren’s names.

Linda Lee of Centerville said she’s also taken the Red Paper classes at St. Charles Church. She said when one class is over she’s always looking forward to the next one.

“I’m always in pain and it helps to take my mind off the pain,” said the 73-year-old breast cancer survivor. “When I’m here my thoughts are on what I am doing.”

Yanes, a lifelong art collector says when human beings encounter an existential threat such as cancer, they need to confront it with vigor and use all powers at their disposal.

“We need the support of health care professionals, our family and friends,” he says. “Above all, we need to reach deep within and call on our inner strength to deal with the constant emotional upheavals.”

Yanes believes art, in all its forms, is like faith.

“It’s a source that connects us from within and without,” he says. “It gives a meaning to our relationship with the universe and a deep sense of inner peace. That’s why I believe an exposure to — and immersion in — the arts is a tool cancer patients may use.”

CADC gallery founder/director Christy Jennewein says her nonprofit gallery is planning to offer the free classes to patients twice a month until the end of the year. She says the class is for everyone with all supplies provided. Each project will be two weeks in duration and focus on a different type of art medium. Tuesday night’s class, on Oct. 8, still has openings.

Art decorates doctor’s offices as well

The collaboration between Yanes and CADC is taking another form as well. Original artwork from the gallery is on display throughout the doctor’s offices at 1 Elizabeth Place.

“Dr. Yanes and Christy Jennewein worked together on an idea to rotate original artwork in our office from various local artists providing our patients a unique art experience in our office,” says Tosha Cumbee, a social worker on the Yanes staff. “We sometimes don’t realize that a piece of art not only may be pleasing to the eye but helps us process certain thoughts and feeling that we may have. It gives us a different avenue on how to process the world around us internally and allows us to have this inner therapeutic experience.”

She says individuals don’t have to be a Picasso or a Monet to do art and express what they are feeling and thinking.

“There is a lot of evidence that people who engage in supportive activities while going through a chronic illness cope better and report having an increased quality of life,” Cumbee says.

In the treatment room of the Dayton Blood and Cancer Center, a touring art exhibit from “Lilly Oncology on Canvas: Expressions of a Cancer Journey” is also on display.

Another member of the Yanes team is medical assistant Lauren McClure, who was featured in the Dayton Daily News Pink Paper in 2009 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 22.

Hospice social worker shares stories and art

In her just-published book, “The Dying Teach Us How to Live,” Hospice social worker Pat Acker, has matched short inspirational stories and meditations with her own illustrations — oil paintings, pencil drawings, watercolors.

“I have loved art ever since I was a child,” says Acker, who says when she was working on a painting, drawing or art project, she could block out the world and try to feel or experience the subject.

“I could do scenery, but I was drawn to portraits because they were more challenging and I could express the feeling I had for that person,” she adds. “I have had a few art classes but have done my paintings and drawings from my heart.”

Although she didn’t have a significant amount of time to use art therapy with her Hospice clients, Acker says in some cases it was a way of opening communication.

“Talking about a picture is not threatening but can be very revealing about feelings that are otherwise not expressed,” she explains. “Pictures can trigger emotions, memories, buried feelings.”

“Art creates opportunities for communication that can be enjoyed without translation difficulties, ability to read or mental health status,” Acker concludes. “When paired with music, it takes us out of ourselves and into a protected environment that flows with creativity and frees our mind for something greater than ourselves.”