ART WORKSHOP FOR CANCER SURVIVORS
Interactive and Expressive Art Healing Workshop Hosted at Trinitas

Recently, 17 cancer survivors, care givers and Trinitas Regional Medical Center and the Trinitas Comprehensive Cancer Center staff attended an Art Workshop provided through the Friends' Health Connection (FHC) and sponsored by a grant from Novartis Pharmaceuticals. The workshop helped attendees explore the benefits of understanding and using art as a way to enhance one's quality of life and promote emotional and physical healing through the fundamentals of art creation.

The workshop, titled "Myths and Legends," was led by Nitza Daniela Horner, an accomplished artist, sculptor and educator affiliated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Ms. Horner demonstrated new ways for the participants to enhance cognitive abilities and increase self-awareness through artistic creativity. Attendees also explored the textures and aromas of various natural ingredients used to make paints, inks and drawing papers, and discussed how those characteristics could influence art making.

Participants identified details in selected slides taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection and applied those insights into their own creative sketching and watercolor painting projects. Through this hands-on event, participants were able to see that "an artist is not a special kind of person, but every person is a special kind of artist."

For more information about FHC, visit www.friendshealthconnection.org.