Photo Gallery

Juanita by Fulvia Musti Ciarla

Juanita, the Lady of Ampato, was inspired by a recent trip to the Pre-Columbian cities of Machu Picchu, Cuzco, and Lima. Juanita was 14 years old when she was sacrificed, between 1440 and 1450 A.D. Colorful bird feathers were highly prized in ancient Peru. The most popular feathers came from the rainforest. Macaws, parrots, parakeets, curassows, and tanagers provided the most vivid colors. They were often clipped (as in my mask) in Pre-Columbian times to make textiles for both men and women. Yellow represents the sun, which was eulogized in the Andean world as a heavenly body endowed with cosmic force and divine attributes, whose rays contributed to the agricultural growth so necessary in a land with little fertile terrain.

Out of the Blue by Diane Englander

I work abstractly—no symbolism, no narrative. And that, clearly, was my approach to this project. As honored as I was to participate in this undertaking, I knew I couldn’t turn my approach to my art inside out. So instead I embraced the symbolism that would unavoidably be part of what I did with the mask, transforming this part of someone’s painful experience with cancer into something completely different, that would not speak directly of illness and suffering. And though I tried to use the wires as I use lines in my two-dimensional work, this wire refused to lie along the surface. So I finally gave in to its energy, resulting with a coil that looks as if it might spring away from its base, from the mask that ties us to the patient’s struggle.

Flight by June Linowitz

Flight conveys two different messages. The nest is a place of refuge and comfort, a shelter for quiet recovery. But the eggs contain the hope of safe arrival and new growth, and the promise of wings.

Janus by Elzbieta Sikorska

The Janus mask has been inspiring me for the last couple of years. Because of its symbolism, I thought it was appropriate to use this idea in the case of work for Courage Unmasked 2. Here is a brief description of Janus: “In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions, hence also of gates, doors, doorways, endings, and time. He is usually a two-faced god since he looks to the future and the past.” (Wikipedia)

“Calligraphy of the old Leaves is dancing” by Micheline Klagsbrun

A mask is a powerful totem. This mask was used to immobilize a woman’s head. I want to invest it with the power to resist immobilization. As I work on it, I am immersed in the story of Daphne (from Ovid’s Metamorphoses), who escaped her unwanted pursuer Apollo by turning into a tree. I am working on a series of paintings I call TREEfever, in which I re-interpret the ending of this myth. I render Daphne’s transformation as transcendence, a dancer’s leap, an inner escape from her external rootedness. I drape the mask in the poetry of Dylan Thomas, in thin paper on which I have inscribed his words in ritual fashion, using ink, leaves, twigs, and magic. “And death shall have no dominion” is a powerful antidote to the fear of death and the psychic immobility that fear brings. I crown the mask with the spirit of a gazelle.

Tree of Life by Wendy M. Ross

It is said that the Tree of Life may be hidden from us, but it can never be lost and is destined to be found again. In this work, an image of a tree is carved into the back of this portrait and can only be revealed with reflected light. It stands like a sentinel to the unfolding development of the depth of our conscious ability to heal ourselves. As we face the winter and spring of our lives we are continually renewed, and our inner spirit emerges and begins to flower and fruit, providing us with a profound sense of the mystery and transformative grace of nature. From the alchemical tradition, the Tree of Life is a symbol of the Opus Magnum, and the meditation is to shed light on the “gold” within to reveal how the morning star sings. . . .

Tides by Susanna Giller

This mask is inspired by the strength of the women who raised me. They are represented in the media. For my grandmother, hundred-year-old barn wood. Sea glass, some as old, gathered by my mother and aunts, and stained glass from their art projects. These women were and are as brave as a thousand soldiers, as wise as hundred sages, as brilliant as the moon, and as strong as the tides.

Fermata by Scott Braun

This piece represents the concrete start of a separate, ongoing project that has been brewing for several years. After watching a dear friend fight and find an ability to live with his “uninvited guest,” having lost a childhood love, friends, and family, I saw in each a battle with a loss of individuality and identity, and the creation of a tribe of supporting elements surrounding that battle, each personality a crucial part. The intent of the ongoing project is to travel to hospitals treating head and neck cancers and spend time with the patients there, learning about their lives and their circle of caregivers, including the hospital staff. The culmination of each segment of the whole is an installation in the hospital, honoring the individuality of the people involved by using their masks to create a work of art acknowledging all the hope and all the horror of being human.

Enchanted Garden of Everyday by Lisa Schumaier

The photo in my piece is my brilliant and hilarious mother as a child. My mother died of brain tumors and underwent radiation therapy. She faced every day with courage. Each day was a party. In the end the festivities were in her hospital bed that was parked in our living room, but it was still filled with affection and sarcasm, friends and family, babies, dogs, and white wine. Even when she could no longer talk she was still cracking us up by rolling her eyes at appropriate moments. Our amazing hospice workers taught us that all anyone has is today, so we should make the most of it. My piece is about that celebration. I miss my mom, but even in the end I would not have missed a minute of her incredible life.

In the Royal Presence by Ellyn Weiss

My piece is wax, a medium of beguiling surface translucence and both strength and fragility, a combination of characteristics that seems to me to be inherently feminine. She is crowned and perhaps a bit haughty, projecting the proud triumph of a victor. She has fought to overcome fear and pity. She struggles to claim an identity entirely separate from this disease.

Samantha by Elaine Langerman

I was very honored to be asked to participate in this project. I am delighted that I am able to help improve, in some small way, the lives of patients with head and neck cancer. The use of the mask brought home for me the difficulty and pain involved in treating this awful disease and motivated me to try to make something of value, something hopeful, something with spirit and determination, something downright sassy!

The Gift by Joyce Zipperer

In creating The Gift for CU2, I have focused on the real as well as the mythical aspects of the bird and the rose. With his brilliant red feathers and dramatic black facial color, the male cardinal seems regal and of high order. He became the model for my mask. The rose is an ancient mystic symbol, signifying life force. The predominant material, copper, is said to have healing powers. I want my mask to represent a positive vision. In choosing the subject matter, my thoughts went to a symbolic theme that is uplifting. Realistically, a bird mask expresses the image of flight and soaring above. Wanting to inject some humor, I added flight goggles!

I Can See Clearly Now by Mark Behme

This dramatic composition uses the mesh (matrix) of the mask as a symbol for infinite and expanding space. The single inner hand represents healing irradiation, the life force, and/or spiritual energy. This powers the entity through the matrix. The outer hands (made of plywood and hence another matrix) give sight to the entity as it travels. The plywood layers of the base, supporting the matrix, symbolize other planes of existence. The floating effect enforces the sense of movement, and the blue color provides a feeling of calmness.

Between Hope and Fear #2 by Kari Minnick

I first learned of this project from Cookie Kerxton. Both Cookie and another of my students, Carol Kanga, are head and neck cancer survivors. I’m grateful that they are now healthy and active in our art community. Recently, a dear friend and colleague was diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing treatment. I thought of her a great deal as I worked on this piece; inspired by her perseverance, and hopeful that she will have the same positive outcome. In the making of my piece, I used glass elements that already existed in my studio. These elements needed to be re-worked and/or transformed in some way. In some cases, the elements were actually “healed” before they could be used. The components have been ground, polished, and recombined to be something stronger and greater than the sum of its parts.

Trophy by Jack Rasmussen

I liked the idea of working with a head mounted on the wall above the fireplace—like a moose—a trophy, of sorts. This particular head has gone through a lot, but beauty is fighting back.

All Things Are Possible by Alison Sigethy

I was struck by the beauty in the form of the radiation mask and the look of motion it conveyed. I wanted to keep those elements but make it look more sculptural and elegant. Since the mask was a hollow form, I wanted to fill it without detracting from the beauty of the form. The lightness of glass accomplished that goal perfectly. Because the piece has many layers, you can look at it a long time and keep finding new things. That aspect interests me visually and symbolically. The working title for the piece was "Inquire Within," and I still think that works on many levels.

Grace by Saaraliisa Ylitalo

I used my journal pages to paper-maché the mask. They are full of my anxieties and fears, as I imagine the journal pages of this cancer patient might be. We all need support and love, especially when facing the crises in our lives—the gold means that support to me. I know a person who has been affected by neck cancer. This is my image of that journey.

A Leaf of Knowledge by Francie Hester

This mask is created in memory of Brendan Ogg, a young poet who died from a brain tumor at the age of 20. The words used in this piece are taken from his book of poetry, Summer Becomes Absurd, which was published after his death in 2010. Brendan’s raw, autobiographic words help us name what is most precious in the ordinary, showing us how to live life whole.

Birdsong by Joan Danziger

The use of animal imagery as metaphorical or psychological subject has great potency for me. It gives my sculptures a life of their own and creates a magical world. Bird imagery is very special, as they represent flight, beauty, and freedom.

The Eyes of Frida Kahlo by F. Lennox Campello

The Washington Post once described me as a “Kahlophile since age 17,” referencing the fact that throughout my career I have been peppering my artistic production with artwork depicting the iconic Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. I’ve created around 700 works about Kahlo. Years ago I started incorporating electronic components in my process. As a natural storyteller, I know that the marriage of traditional artwork (drawing, painting, etc.) with video works perfectly. Here I’m representing Kahlo’s triumph over her life-long pain. In this piece, that pain is ever-present, represented by the screws piercing the human form of the face. But we also see her output, represented by images of her paintings rotating digitally through her eyes, out-flash and out-do the pain. It’s her artwork, presented in light, which wins the final battle. The pain is gone and forgotten, but the triumphant artwork has etched Kahlo’s name in our collective minds forever.

Courage Expanded by Carien Quiroga

Anaïs Nin said: “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” This quote was the inspiration for Courage Expanded and is written in the background around the mask. Stones covered in crocheted copper wire, symbolic of strength and courage, flank an Arum lily that symbolizes the fragility if life. The use of nails and stitching addresses healing and overcoming challenges. The “expanded” neck of the mask reflects on the courage and bravery of the patients undergoing treatments as referenced in the quote above.

Uneven Flow by Carol Kanga

Producing art with glass is an exhilarating process for creating expressions that result from "transformation by fire"—and that is how oral cancer affected me. My work is designed to entice viewers to rejoice with me that life is and that we all are part of it. Together we can push and pull queries, spin new glimpses, and distill fresh working metaphors. Let’s weave our thoughts through surprising material relationships to form new visions of what we can do with what we already have, which includes our memories and our dreams. Wildly diverse colors, textures, transparencies, cohesions, and reflective properties of glass and light juxtapose like with unlike, and physical with metaphysical—and finally, boundaries with boundlessness.

Replica by David Page

Upon receiving the mask, I was struck by its immediate visual impact and its sense of vector. The way that the mesh exaggerated the features, as well as its implied history, created a powerful object that was beautiful and complete. It resisted any embellishment or augmentation. The only solution was to replicate it. I did so as faithfully and sensitively as I could.

Billy Colbert

I am on a merry-go-round that is spinning in and out of control. I am overwhelmed by a myriad of imagery that serves as the backdrop for popular culture's infomercial. As I spin, I hear sales pitches and slogans being spoken with the cadence of an auctioneer. I see things I am not supposed to see, entangled with things I want to see again. When I am off the merry-go-round, I am a composer, using my episodic memory to piece together the fragments from my journey. These fragments are the source for my creations. My creations are an isolation of popular culture's blur.

Loud & Clear by Lorrie Fredette

After detaching the mask from its base, the thermal plastic mesh was cut into small sections. The mesh pieces were heated and formed over a three-dimensional template, creating half spheres. Spheres were matched and connected with plaster gauze bandage. Once the plaster cured, each element was painted with several layers of beeswax combined with tree resin. Most of us use our voices as our primary form of expression. Loud & Clear, influenced by normal larynx tissue, is its metaphor. The sculptural arrangements of elements are an interpretation of the piling up, the proliferation of healthy cells. The three primary materials used dovetail with the intention of the work. The plaster bandage, a material known for fixing broken bones, sets the mended cells. The thermal plastic mask is transformed into a multitude of healthy cells. Beeswax historically has been used to preserve tissue samples, and for this piece is preserving the renewed well-being.

Hope Springs Eternal by Barbara Beck

Cookie Kerxton and I have been good friends for 40+ years (yikes!), 10 of which we worked together. I have the utmost respect for the courage and dignity with which she faced her personal battle with cancer. I am also deeply impressed by her innovative idea, generous spirit, and unstoppable tenacity that gave birth to this amazing, creative undertaking. I contribute my mask to honor her and this remarkable project. Congratulations to Cookie and everyone who has made this dream a reality.

Empress by Jenny Freestone

I was taken by the profile of my mask—to my mind a patrician Roman profile, female. I worked on the surface of the mask to render a similarity to a marble bust. Wire mesh becomes a riff on a regal ruff. Bronze paint and other metals stand in for precious metals. My patrician female is a potent, benevolent empress.

Athena’s Owl by Barbara Kerne

The inspiration for Athena’s Owl grows out of my continuing interest in landscape, mythology, and memory. In classical mythology Athena was the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, strength, and the arts and crafts, and as such, a goddess of heroic endeavor and a patron of those who need help. In song and story she frequently has nearby her small companion, the owl of inner light and wisdom, symbol of vigilance. It is often thought that Athena is the owl in another guise, a manifestation of Athena herself. My owl grows out of that mythological landscape and story and takes a mythological form. It lives to illustrate that these attributes of Athena can transfer to individuals who encounter major adversity and show heroic strength to overcome that adversity, and live to dream a new dream.

Beauty and the Beast by Jessica Beels

This piece grew from my fascination with the stunning mathematical elegance of the structures of viruses, paired with musings about my mother-in-law’s experience as she—a remarkably beautiful woman—underwent radiation treatment. By painting the white plastic of the mask silver, I transformed it into something reminiscent of the idealized, but destructive, female robot in Fritz Lang’s 1927 dystopic film, Metropolis. I built a steel wire cage around the radiation mask in the form of half of the structure of HPV (the human papillomavirus, a hexapentakis snub dodecahedron) and covered it with high-shrinkage flax paper. HPV is a cause of throat cancer.

Rest and Refuge by James Walker

For this piece, I juxtaposed objects that symbolize stability and comfort. By incorporating found objects, I am giving them a recontextualized new life and purpose.

phoenix: always rising by raymonde van santen

Looking at the mask, two associations immediately came to mind: fire and escape. Fire represents the heat of radiation, and escape the way for the mind to deal with the procedure. The phoenix, or firebird, embodies those associations, as through fire it renews itself and flies away from its ashes, again and again. As a ceramic sculptor I wanted to incorporate clay in this work, for its associations with heat, creativity, and its history going back to mythical times of the phoenix.

Healing Light by Alan Binstock

I view this project as an opportunity to envision and express an inner victory over outer challenges. Tempered glass is shattered, broken, and cold fused with resins. Light is projected. Light is captured. Radiance becomes a part of the work’s palette. An internal projected light becomes a metaphor for our inner guidance and inner strength. Courage Unmasked is an excellent template for the use of artistic expression to raise awareness of the challenges faced by many with limited resources who battle a ravaging disease. I am proud of the organizers for their focus and fortitude, and proud to be a part of this effort.

An Owl’s Perch by Ronni Jolles

As I began to think about the mask, I looked out into our woods and saw a huge owl perched majestically on a tree. This beautiful creature, with its wise and dignified gaze, became my inspiration. After cutting the top part of the mask from its base, I used both the base and the face of the mask for this piece of art. I attached the base to stretched canvas with needle and thread, and I draped paper over the base to make it look like the hole in a tree. For the owl, I used the face of the mask as the base and sculpted the face and body with modeling paste and glued paper. I sewed the owl to the canvas, and I used acrylic paints and different kinds of paper to add more texture and details to both the tree and the owl. I finished with several layers of varnish.

Gypsy Queen of the Five Moons by Barbara Freeman Warden

The magic of the moon is my inspiration. The moon captured my attention years ago when I discovered that I didn’t sleep during the nights when the moon was full. I have been fascinated ever since. In science class I learned about the tidal powers of the moon. Then, in 1969, the world was thrilled when American astronauts made their landing. The moon appears in Broadway songs, classical music titles, poetry, photography, painting, mythology, science, and more. The number five has its own significance—in numerology, Cartouche, tarot, the Bible, Greek mythology, science, and more. Gypsies, for me, hold a special interest that began when I was a child and listened to my mother’s stories about Hungarian gypsies who traveled town to town in her native Hungary.

Honeycomb by Joan Belmar

For this piece, I used contemporary materials (acrylic, ink, mylar, wood, and vinyl on plywood) giving special importance to the color and characteristic shape of the mask. The colors white and blue and the honeycomb pattern are also recurrent in my work. This piece includes a circular background, painted with acrylic and ink on polypropylene, designed to convey a sense of the universe.

Mr. Natural Takes A Bough by David Carlson

I don’t think much about content in the beginning of an artwork. Instead, I allow the ideas to surface along the way. I started gathering sticks and twigs that had fallen from a River Birch in my yard and began to play with inserting the sticks into the mask. The metamorphosis from restricted movement to a natural weave gave power to the spirit of the object. I prefer the simplified shape with no features. Somehow this goes past any recognizable image, but can allude to or touch the spirit of a person—in this case my friend Wayne, who died from a brain tumor in May 2011. He was very connected with the natural world and had a great understanding of its qualities. For years we had conversations about our relationship with the earth and all of its character. This mask is a contemplative reminder of a part of us we cannot forget.

Votive, 2012 by Susan Goldman

The inspiration for this mask is the concept of a votive candle, when one offers prayer or blessing. A prayer for healing, hope, and strength, and thankfulness for having made it through a difficult time. The idea of cancer treatment is frightening, and a cure a welcome relief. The black palette represents the mystery of the unknown and going into the darkness to find the light. Hence, the light within us to preserve and move forward. I saw the vessel as a metaphor for the body and flowers as representing the beauty of nature and life. I am blending these images together to illuminate the human struggle and to understand that we are all part of a greater process. The words “hope” and “blessings” inspire us to count our blessings and the miracles of medical treatment that are possible.

Lady Arashi by Janet Barnard

A personal friend’s survival from head cancer was the motivation for my creating this mask, which is emblematic of the woman I know. Silk fiber is strong yet soft, keeps you warm in the cold, and is beautiful in its reflective properties, attributes that could be ascribed to her as well. The process is the Japanese resist technique of Arashi shibori, known as pole-wrapping shibori. The cloth is wrapped on a diagonal around a pole and tightly bound by wrapping thread in parallel lines around the circumference. The cloth is compressed into pleats, dyed, and steam-set on the pole. The result is an accordion-pleated cloth with a diagonal design. I then stitched the silk onto the mask in curves and twists. "Arashi" is the Japanese word for “storm,” and the diagonals suggest the driving rain.

Blossoming by Gretchen Schermerhorn

Depth and ephemerality are notions I'm drawn to, and what I wanted to bring to this piece. I've long been fascinated with the possibilities of a flat sheet of paper which, by simply folding it, becomes sculptural and fills space in a completely different way. I also wanted to play up the paradox of working sculpturally with paper: When it’s folded, it is geometric and rigid. In the end, it is still paper, and it will eventually break down and become, once again, part of the soil.

Joseph Barbaccia

This piece is a radical move from my typical sculptures. For one, of course, I didn’t create the base form. And I didn’t apply sequins as a surface material for color and texture. A thick application of acrylic was used instead. The colors and shapes were inspired by Chinese theater masks.

Breath by Beverly Ress

When I first received the mask, I was both challenged by its material and moved by the history it contains—the tape and markings and bits of hair attached to its frame. I wanted to honor the reality of the person who was treated using this mask, and also take control of it as an object, and transform it. I began by pulling the frame of the mask forward into a kind of Renaissance wimple. I cut open the mouth and began to imagine breath—the primal force of life. I attached an intaglio print of a butterfly that I had made several years ago. It is a reminder of breath and lends a skin-like translucency to the piece. When I cut the mesh of the mask into a lacey pattern and applied copper leaf to the “wimple” and background canvas, the piece felt finished—balanced between memory and transformation.

Renewal by Dominie Nash

The leaf is an important image in my work, both because of the beauty of its varied shapes and colors, and for what it symbolizes as it reappears every spring.

Kisses for Kayla by Roz Houseknecht

I knew when I was invited to make a mask for this show that it would be a tribute to a young girl who lost her 5-year battle with brain cancer. Kayla was the granddaughter of my best friend from childhood, and this was a very emotional event. The family gave me insight into Kayla’s personality and her interactions with siblings, doctors, classmates, and family. I began with pink. This was Kayla’s favorite color and the color worn by her family at the funeral. My design features butterflies, which adorned her room. Her necklace lists many of her attributes, and activities that she loved. I hope I captured some of Kayla’s bravery.

Silver Solitude by Bridget Sue Lambert

I construct scenes that simulate the emotional and physical clutter surrounding relationships. Via photographs of ordinary intimate scenes and portraits of vintage dolls I explore the conflict-filled world of relationships and desire through the use of the miniature, specifically a dollhouse. By creating spaces filled with miniaturized everyday clutter, I manipulate the viewer’s sense of time and space and offer frozen tableaus that suggest a living narrative. I am interested in evoking the tensions, anxiety, and muddle that exist in private spaces. Messy beds, knocked over drinks, bras and clothing flung on the floor hint at feelings of lust, desire, fear, love, faith, anticipation and expectation. Silver Solitude is a self-portrait referencing the spiritual and healing powers of religious icons. It refers to feelings we have when faced with situations of hopelessness, seclusion, detachment and desertion and the ability to pull from inner strength to overcome the obstacles that lay in front of us.

Mask of Life by Albert Schweitzer

Quirky characters are what I paint. Much of the time, I let spontaneity and being open create the characters first. I later organize these beings and put them in an environment where they live and interact with each other. Fluid lines and splashy shapes make up the sculpture mask. I use bright colors to add cheer to the sometimes dark and ominous states of some of these characters. My inspiration was to do a mask that relates the inner struggles we face and the fight to live in a world where it’s hard to be a survivor and overcome the battles we all face. It is my intention to paint a world that is filled with the various states of the human condition and show how they relate to the rest of the world.

The Three Graces by Deirdre Saunder

Everyone I know who has suffered cancer treatment has done so with awesome resilience and grace, even if the odds have been stacked against them and the outcome has been devastating. Having only one face that would portray this courageous show of grace seemed insufficient, and so I gave the mask two more faces, thus also including the historic reference to The Three Graces.

Radiant by Jeanne Heifetz

As an artifact of radiation treatment, the underlying mask carries a burden of fear as well as hope. Radiation hovers on the border of danger, just as chemotherapy depends on poison to do its healing work. The language of radiation is violent: being bombarded with radiation; radiation burns; harmful radiation; radiation sickness. I wanted to transform the emotional connotations of the mask, using alternative meanings of “radiation” and “radiance.” The layered and woven copper skin becomes a source of reflected light, protective armor for the wearer. The handmade lace, radiating outward from a central starburst, is structurally similar to the underlying mask: a grid stretched to follow the planes of the patient’s face and head. But unlike the mass-produced plastic, the irregular lace clearly demonstrates the presence of the human hand. While the plastic is made in the service of healing, the lace manifests the essential human component of that care.

Shades of Colorado by Anita Hinders

It is profoundly moving to witness the courage, grace, and dignity with which loved ones face the burden of their illness. I marvel at patients’ ability to look outside themselves, their pain, and anxiety to care about the world and those around them. From the start, I wanted to portray that world by building a landscape of sorts around a mask. Its color should celebrate life. This radiation mask came to me from a woman’s daughter in Colorado, who had tenderly sent it off in a box with pictures of mountains on it. I think of this mask, Shades of Colorado, as a love letter continued.

She Keeps Her Head Above Water by Kathy Korin

Water has been an important part of my life. I was raised on the Florida Gulf Coast with its snow-white beaches and emerald green waters. The BP oil spill first triggered a water theme in my work. In 2011, I moved to Maryland’s Severn River, renewing my water theme. Then, in March 2012, my mother was diagnosed with an aggressive basal cell cancer on the top of her head and was treated with radiation. Mama always had a very sharp wit and memory—until now. The spikes on top represent her colorful personality, which may be somewhat dulled by disease or treatment. There are other perils in the piece, but there is also vast beauty surrounding the face. She Keeps Her Head Above Water is ultimately about swimming through life, managing to survive, and finding an island of peace.

The Healing Spirit With-In by Richard D. Thibodeau

I created my mask to inspire the hope and strength we all have in ourselves to help heal ourselves, and whatever belief or type of faith it may take to help heal, whether it is believing in angels or healing hands, Aztec or Mayan beliefs, or whatever religious belief or non-religious belief that may help us pull through or push forward and bring us comfort, peace, and harmony. Looking through the eyes of the mask you can see its soul and all the beliefs tied up into a beautiful healing hope.

Out of the Woods by Ellen Hill

For this head, I stacked layers of multiple strips of poplar and carved into the end grain, producing the patterned surface. I use wood in my two-dimensional work, but making a sculptural work out of wood was new for me, putting me on unfamiliar ground. I was lucky to be surrounded by generous and expert woodworkers from the Woodworkers Club who helped me overcome some daunting technical challenges. While I was making this, I thought about people going through radiation—not knowing the outcome, keeping faith, and hoping for the best. It made my process of dealing with uncertainty pretty easy.

Avian Warrior II by Joan Konkel

Avian Warrior II evokes the strong compulsion for victory in battle. The world as we know is expanding into the realm of the microscopic. Researchers have been delving into what I describe as the porous realm of nanospace, a place of DNA strands, folding and unfolding proteins, neurons, molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles…a place where new cures await discovery. Avian Warrior II enters this porous realm, arriving in nanospace on the open threads of mesh. The juxtaposition of layers of porous mesh creates moiré patterns that, like protein molecules, have flexible features, adding to our warrior’s arsenal. As the Avian Warrior proceeds, the fight intensifies. Using every weapon in his arsenal, may he emerge victorious and return to the fold embracing the cure.

To-Do by Jeanne Garant

This To-Do mask lists some of the things we say we want to do but cannot seem to find the time for. The mask is covered with Asian papers and treated with blackboard paint so that the chalk lists can be erased when items on the list are completed.

Pollinate Me by Sheep Jones

I am always looking for the puzzle pieces to suggest a narrative. I see the single mask growing roots, searching for the nutrients that will allow the flower form to blossom and attract the bee to pollinate.

Roz 2 and Mom by Bill Harris

The inspiration behind my work for Courage Unmasked 2 has to do with my experiences regarding cancer within my own family. I lost my wife in 1991 as a result of breast cancer that had been diagnosed three years earlier. My mother, at the age of 91, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and is currently going through chemo treatments. Roz 2 and Mom is my attempt to honor these important females in my own life and to remind everyone of the beauty that cancer removes from our daily presence.

New Blooming by Harriet Lesser

The care required to tend a garden and the possible extraordinary results of beauty and exuberant life resonated with me when considering the possible positive results for patients with head and neck cancer. This artwork was constructed piece by piece to fit into a blossoming whole new framework. That is my hope for new health for those with head and neck cancer.

Sunrise of a Thousand Cranes by Mary Beth Bellah

So many events in our lives are the beginning of something new…. My hope is that this mask, indeed, will foretell the sunrise of a thousand cranes (and a very, very long life ahead).

gestation (hope) by Jacqui Crocetta

gestation (hope) was inspired by the strength and courage of those fighting cancer and the love and dedication of their caregivers and supporters. This mask is an expression of the beauty of the human spirit and a celebration of the healing powers within.