Life inspires art.
For some, it's powerfully beautiful things that provoke creative action. For others, it's stark reality that should not be denied, hidden, or avoided.
"The only way that I feel driven to making art is through personal experience, so it's first hand, rather than being a viewer for me," said artist Cat Sivertsen.
Sivertsen had surgery to fight her pancreatic cancer and wrapped up six months of chemotherapy on June 18, so she's ready for the healing that art brings.
"Part of what I want to do is encourage talk around cancer," said Sivertsen. "It's like talk around death. A couple of years ago I did the Aesthetics of Grief exhibit about death, and like cancer, everybody's touched by it, but nobody wants to talk about it."
Sivertsen is opening Exhibit 365, a relationship with cancer, at Storefront Studio on Saturday.
Local photographer Alex Moffat encouraged Sivertsen to do some fine art about her process through cancer and Sivertsen has encouraged Moffat to do some fine art photography as he saw loved ones suffer through cancer.
Grateful for the extraordinary care she has had in Prince George, Sivertsen said she has invited all the heath care workers she had interacted with to the opening of her exhibit so she can express her gratitude.
As part of her art process but not part of her current exhibit, Sivertsen did have Moffat come in during recovery of the surgery, called the Whipple procedure, and Moffat photographed her, with her son, Dave, at her side. Dave, 29, lives in Japan and came to support Sivertsen through it, leaving his wife and two children behind.
"Alex put together a montage but I can't look at that right now," said Sivertsen. "I look at it and I burst into tears. It's so visceral, so raw and so close to being the end."
Included in the art exhibit are photographs that Moffat took while Sivertsen described the images she had in mind that is a response to the six months of chemotherapy she endured after surgery.
"I was three weeks on, once a week, one week off for the chemotherapy treatment and I was not a happy patient at the beginning because I didn't want to be there," said Sivertsen. "Part of it was me calming down and accepting the pharmaceutical help and accepting the help and the beautiful tender care the staff in the cancer centre gives to each and every patient. So the images are a response to the vulnerability of being a patient and the tenderness that is given to you and accepting that tender touch."
In September Sivertsen is starting work on her PhD in health sciences about using the arts as a healing communication tool in remote communities.
Sivertsen's opening reception for Exhibit 365, a relationship with cancer is at the Storefront Studio, 1144 Fourth Ave., Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. and will continue until August 10. The space is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m.
