Ashley Cecil

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Thanks to a grant from the Kentucky Arts Council, I was able to start a community art project in September with a small group of women who are members of Gilda’s Club Louisville. The primary objective was to help the women create a large painting of their own design that illustrated their experience with cancer.

One of the first steps in the process was to visit several local galleries on a First Friday Trolley Hop. I especially wanted them to see the work of Joyce Garner (who is also a cancer survivor) at Garner Furnish Studio. Although the studio was packed with guests, Joyce was gracious enough to talk to us about her work and gave the women ideas for their own painting.

Once the group had a finished sketch drawn to scale, I used tracing paper to put a grid over the sketch that corresponded to a larger grid penciled in on the canvas.

The grid helped us translate the drawing to its full size and then we started painting. At this point, we’re just a few sessions shy of a completed painting. But the project doesn’t end there.

In a member recruitment and community outreach effort to raise awareness about services offered at Gilda’s Club, the finished painting will travel to several Louisville venues. Each exhibit will open with a public unveiling of the artwork that sets the stage for the Gilda’s Club participants to share with the audience their experience with the project, services offered by the organization, and their personal cancer stories. At the end of the traveling exhibit, the painting will be permanently installed at Gilda’s at 633 Baxter Avenue to continually enrich the club’s environment for every member.

Passion, emotion, and personal experiences are the unique gifts these Gilda’s Club members have used to inform this powerful painting that will inspire conversations about facing cancer. Art is an extremely intuitive way to communicate a message and these women have something we are excited to share with the Louisville community. Stay tuned for more…

Thanks to a grant from the Kentucky Arts Council, I was able to start a community art project in September with a small group of women who are members of...