Breast Cancer Survivors Invited to Display their "Battle Scars" for National Art Exhibit
Sculptor Mary Ellen Scherl to Cast the Chests of Survivors for "mamorial" Exhibit on Saturday, April 14 at RWJ Hamilton Center for Health & Wellness
4/2/07
HAMILTON, NEW JERSEY – The standard perception of an artist at work brings to mind sketchbooks, paintbrushes or lumps of clay on a potter's wheel. Artist Mary Ellen Scherl, however, avoids the conventional as she travels the country in a quest to capture the human form. More specifically, she is on a mission to cast the chests of breast cancer survivors while building an exhibit called "mamorial."
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Artist Mary Ellen Scherl holds a cast donated by a breast cancer survivor.
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The goal of mamorial is to help raise awareness on breast cancer by showing the disease's toll. Scherl will place casts taken from breast cancer survivors on a mamorial exhibit that will travel throughout America. Each cast will be accompanied by a note from the person who made its impression; notes will convey the unique and similar ways in which breast cancer affected the person.
Scherl will capture the casts of local breast cancer survivors for mamorial at the RWJ Hamilton Center for Health & Wellness (CHW), 3100 Quakerbridge Road, Mercerville, New Jersey on Saturday, April 14, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The participation of women and men who have survived breast cancer is sought – whether they have been recently diagnosed, are awaiting or have had surgery, or have had a reconstruction performed.
Breast cancer survivors who participate in the April 14 program will be treated to a day of pampering including massages, Reiki sessions, giveaways, drawings food and speakers. All casts that are made as a result of the appearance at the CHW will be displayed during an exhibition at the CHW in the near future. Eventually, all casts may become part of the traveling mamorial exhibit.
Sending a Wake Up Call
"Through my sculpting I have witnessed how art can help heal the kinds of wounds that affect the heart and the mind," says Scherl on her Web site, www.mamorial.com. "The sheer numbers of the breasts that will fill mamorial's walls will reflect what feels like an epidemic – one in seven woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, 270,000 Americans, and over 1,000,000 cases each year. Those who have the courage to participate in mamorial are sending a wake-up call to the rest of the world. We need to find a cure."
Scherl began mamorial in 2005. She has since collected chest casts from breast cancer survivors in 22 states. Scherl's previous work has been exhibited at Grounds For SculptureTM, the internationally known, Hamilton-based organization dedicated to advancing sculpture.
In creating the casts for mamorial, Scherl first takes impressions of participants chests by painting on a material that hardens to form a mold. The molds are then cast in resin at a foundry in New York, then painted to match the skin tone of the donor. Scherl relies on donations to pay for the final product and is actively seeking donors. Past mamorial participants have expressed feelings of joy, accomplishment and pride in sharing, what some donors have called, "battle scars."
Coverage of mamorial has been featured on NBC Nightly News, the New York Times, Newark Star-Ledger, Tampa Tribune newspapers throughout New Jersey and publications nationwide. Scherl resides in Bergen County, New Jersey.
Those who wish to attend the mamorial may register in advance through HealthConnection, (609) 584-5900. More information on mamorial is available at www.mamorial.org.
More About RWJ Hamilton
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton (RWJ Hamilton) is the only New Jersey hospital to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Located in Hamilton Township, NJ, the hospital is part of the RWJ Health System and Network and is affiliated with the University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey-RWJ Medical School and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
The RWJ Hamilton Health Care Corporation serves communities within a five-county area and includes an acute care hospital, the Cancer Institute of New Jersey Hamilton, three affiliated medical groups, seven Lakeview Child Centers, and the RWJ Hamilton Center for Health & Wellness, home of a medically-based fitness center and the hospital's extensive community education program. Over 1,900 hospital employees and 650 medical staff physicians share RWJ Hamilton's passion for Excellence Through Service.
For more information, visit www.rwjhamilton.org.
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