 |
Kathy Clegg is a well-known folk artist
who lives and works in the Northwest Corner of Connecticut.
You may not be familiar with Kathy, nor her artwork, but the
Faulkner Breast Centre clinical staff enthusiastically welcomed
her donation of a new mural entitled “Mamma Mural”
which now hangs in the recently renovated waiting room of the
Centre. The piece, which is four feet high by eight feet long,
encompasses a creative play on the word “breast” -
its tufted titmouse and Grand Tetons, and red and blue footed
boobies - is a light-hearted smile, even in the face of cancer.
“Mamma Mural” is her colorful, life-affirming response
to the experience of having breast cancer, not once but twice.
Clegg says, “The mural is my way of not going to the dark
place, not slipping into the tangle of fear and sadness that
can accompany a diagnosis of breast cancer.” It is her
hope that the painting will help other women stay out of that
same dark place.
Clegg was diagnosed with breast cancer on February
14, 2001 at the Faulkner Breast Centre. She was referred to
Faulkner after her home town doctors at Sharon Hospital in
Connecticut had discovered suspicious lumps in her breast.
At the time Clegg was a successful artist, whose commissions
included murals at many public and private locations. But
she was no stranger to cancer. She previously had cervical
cancer when she was a young woman and pregnant with her third
child, she also had an earlier bout of breast cancer which
was treated by lumpectomy.
As Clegg listened to the latest diagnosis,
she had a reaction that perhaps only an artist would have.
Her gaze drifted over the shoulder of the physician speaking
and stared at a blank wall. She thought, “I am hearing
these terrible things and I have nothing to look at while
I’m hearing them.” In that moment, the idea for
the mural was born.
The new diagnosis was daunting. Because of
the nature of the cancers her doctor decided that a mastectomy
was necessary. Since the cancer returned once already, Clegg
decided to do a double mastectomy. In an eleven hour operation,
both of Clegg’s breasts were removed. Upon examination,
more than 150 tumors were found in one breast and three in
the other.
During her treatments, Clegg spent tense hours
and days thinking about her condition. During the MRIs and
bone scans and long sleepless nights, images began to form.
“Obviously”, she says, “breasts are on your
mind at a time like this.” In her head, robin red breasts
began to soar with the red and blue-footed boobies over Lake
Titicaca, with the Twin Peaks pointing merrily skyward in
the background. Clegg mentioned her ideas to other cancer
patients, who came up with other images. “One of the
things I discovered in the journey to this mural, is that
when you talk to other women about their breast cancer, they
become sad. But when I talked about the mural, it would become
laughter” says Clegg.
In these conversations, boob tubes and chicken
breasts, knockers and hooters all sprung to mind. Football
player A.W. Title somehow joined the robins. Images of plant
materials used in cancer chemotherapy such as: ewe, wild pansy,
and periwinkle, joined in. A host of colorful and lively images
began forming in the artist’s imagination.
In addition to creating the mural, Clegg raised
the money necessary for research and materials to carry out
the project. The funds were all donated from private sources.
“This is a gift from Northwest Connecticut to Faulkner
Hospital,” the artist says. “Faulkner and its staff
were my lifeline during one of the most difficult times of
my life. It’s not my hometown hospital, but it felt like
home.”
The Faulkner Breast Centre staff wishes to thank
Kathy for her beautiful imagination and artwork. We hope many
of our patients receive the mural with as much humor and inspiration
as she has.
|
THANKSforGIVING 
