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1st appeared 15 October 1998 Quilts Capture Women's Experience with Cancer At the upcoming Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, 300 breast cancer survivors' and their loved ones' stories will be told to an expected crowd of 12,000 runners and walkers on Sunday, October 18 at 8:30 a.m. at Sharon Meadows in Golden Gate Park.
Perlis, an artist at UCSF/Mount Zion Medical Center, started the Breast Cancer Quilts project three years ago as a project of Art for Recovery. Each quilt is eight feet square and contains 25 different patches created by women with breast cancer and their families and friends. "These quilts are a way to provide women with a voice and to express their creative spirit," Perlis said. "They also create a sense of community among those facing a life-threatening illness."
"Breast cancer is such an angry thing that I was dealing with and I was so mad," said Gloria Pineo, 56, of San Leandro. "But if you can express yourself, as I did through the quilt project, it really helps you cope with the disease." Pineo, a breast cancer survivor with a family history of the disease, her husband, and her sister all contributed to the quilt project. At the San Leandro Hospital, where Pineo has been a volunteer for 25 years, three of the Art for Recovery quilts are currently on display. Art for Recovery, a program of UCSF Stanford Health Care, based at UCSF/Mount Zion Medical Center, was conceived by Ernest Rosenbaum, MD, in 1988 and has been directed by Cindy Perlis since its inception. The mission of Art for Recovery is to help people with life-threatening illnesses, specifically cancer and AIDS, to express their anger, pain, hopes and fears through poetry and writing and by creating works of art including drawings, paintings and collages. Through the process, patients have expressed what it looks and feels like to cope with a life-threatening disease. Patients have also undergone visible medical improvements through participation in the program. Art for Recovery is a nationally recognized program that continues to develop new projects. It has staged many exhibitions of patient artwork throughout the Bay Area and nationwide including a recent display of the Breast Cancer quilts at the National Cancer Institute in Washington, DC. To participate in the Breast Cancer Quilts project, call Cindy Perlis at 885-7221. Links: |
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DAYBREAK | ARCHIVES | CALENDAR | CAMPUS NOTES Copyright
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These stories, displayed in the form of
twelve touching quilts, are visual reminders of what it
looks and feels like to have breast cancer, said Cindy
Perlis, director of UCSF Stanford Health Care's Art for
Recovery program. 
Perlis works with
women at the bedside and in support groups as well as
those participating in a Lifestyles Intervention study to
create the images for the quilts. Since the project has
gained national recognition, she also receives hundreds
of images in the mail. Perlis adds that there is no
censorship, no matter how explicit the expression and all
entries are included. For instance, one woman sewed
sequins around her old prosthesis for the quilt, and
another took black and white photographs of her
mastectomy.