Artists hail cancer patients' courage with masks
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Susan Levi for ‘Courage Unmasked’
Photo: More than 100 Washington-area artists decorated masks used in radiation treatments, resulting in the exhibit ‘Courage Unmasked.’ Clockwise from top left: Reincarnation, by Richard Thibodeaux; The Light From Within, by Cecelia Battle; Homage to Ted Kennedy, by June Linowitz; and The View From Within, by Jessica Beels.
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10/16/2009 - 10/17/09
WASHINGTON — During her treatment for vocal cord cancer last year, Cookie Kerxton had 28 radiation treatments, in which a beam was aimed at her throat for 10 minutes at a time while a mask covered her face and part of her neck. Afterward, she asked a medical technician what other patients did with their masks when they finished therapy."He said some leave them here, some people take them, some throw them in front of the car and run over them," Kerxton says.
She had a better idea: Transform those masks into works of art and sell them to raise money for other patients with head and neck cancer. Kerxton rounded up masks from seven local hospitals and rallied more than 100 artists to decorate them.
The result is "Courage Unmasked," on view through Oct. 24 at the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in suburban Silver Spring, Md.
"Some people said, 'That's so ghoulish. Who would want a radiation mask hanging in their house?' " says Kerxton, of suburban Chevy Chase, Md. But two-thirds of the 109 masks have already sold.
Radiation masks are white, mesh face molds that resemble fencing masks. Rather than protecting the parts of patients' faces that don't need radiation, the masks, which are bolted to the treatment table, serve to immobilize patients during treatments. They fit so tightly that by the end of a session, Kerxton had waffle-print marks on her face.
Artist Cecelia Battle transformed Kerxton's mask by painting it blue, affixing a beaded necklace and crown, and inserting 300 twinkle lights inside to make it glow.
Sculptor June Linowitz so struggled with the project that the plain mask haunted her art studio for weeks before she touched it. ("It was so apparent that it was used for a painful experience," she says.) Finally, she felt inspired. She wove 1,200 feet of twine through the mesh to create a mane, then sculpted and painted the face of a lion. It fetched $2,700 in an auction on Sept. 9, the top money-maker.
"I wanted something that would be a positive image for the people who had gone through the experience," Linowitz says. "I didn't make a ferocious lion. It's courageous and calm and strong and supportive."
