Exhibiting a creative way to heal

Hanging from a panel in the middle of the room was a drawing
depicting the profile of a man in red and blue with his mouth open
as though screaming. There to see the portrait were educators,
students, therapists and cancer patients from the L.A. area.

The man in the drawing has wide eyes and hair standing on end.
Its style echoes expressionist portraits, and it bears the title
“Global Warming and War.” But this wasn’t a
political protest or modernism exhibit: It was “The Healing
Arts: Visual Insights into the Cancer Experience,” an exhibit
of cancer patients’ artwork, which was held Tuesday night at
the Jules Stein Auditorium and Conference Center at UCLA.

This particular drawing was created using the “scribble
technique,” in which artists close their eyes, scribble, and
then, with their eyes open, find an image in the scribble on which
to elaborate.

“Making art gets one out of one’s self. It brings
one to the forefront of life,” said Martin Gelber, who
created the drawing. Gelber is also past president of the American
Institute of Architects, a Pierce College professor, a gourmet cook
and a cancer patient.

Gelber said art is a vital way to grapple with his esophageal
cancer. Gelber and several of his fellow cancer patients take an
art therapy class at the UCLA Medical Center’s Ted Mann
Family Resource Center. This exhibition gave them the opportunity
to present their artwork to the public.

The exhibit was also the project of Nishan Tchekmedyian, a
fifth-year molecular, cell, and developmental biology and business
economics student.

When Professor Paul Von Blum offered the students in his
“The Critical Vision: A History of Art as Social
Commentary” Honors Collegium class the option to either write
a paper or put together an art exhibit, Tchekmedyian chose the
latter.

Inspired by research he has done with the UCLA Cancer Research
Institute, Tchekmedyian pooled resources, from catering to
sponsors, for the exhibition.

Tchekmedyian is interested in the implementation of alternative
or integrative methods in treating cancer patients.

“The way cancer is treated today with chemotherapy
produces many side effects that affect every aspect of
patients’ lives and their family’s lives,” he
said.

Artists’ family members, medical school students, and
nurses from L.A. medical centers such as Kaiser West Los Angeles
and therapists numbered among those at the exhibit. Many attendees
were enthusiastic about using alternative or integrative treatments
to complement modern medicine.

“This type of therapy opens so many opportunities. Healing
is not just about the body; it’s also the mind,” said
first-year medical student Besim Uzgil.

Many aspects of the “Healing Arts” exhibit were
collaborative. Under the guidance of Esther Dreifuss-Kattan, a
psycho-oncologist and art therapist, the patients paint, draw, and
make collages and sculptures, then comment and bring meaning to
each other’s art.

On Wednesdays, the patients meet at the Ted Mann Resource Center
to make art and find relief.

“I just empty my head,” breast cancer survivor Britt
Olofsson said.

Olofsson said she appreciates her peers’ insights into her
artwork.

“What I see is one thing; what my colleagues see is
something else,” she said.

Gelber said the class gives him perspective on his problems.

“You come into the class and you think you have a problem,
but you leave the class thinking, “˜I’m
lucky,'” Gelber said.

But many patients say the friendships they develop are most
important.

“The class brought out a lot of communication in the
participants. It brought kinship, friendship, understanding,
compassion and kindness,” Gelber said.

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