Once a month, the studio workroom at the Nasher Museum of Art becomes a space where paper, paint, and pencils help people shape their cancer experiences into something they can see, touch and share.
For Elnora Phiny Williams, who is surviving kidney cancer, and Melinda Rittenhouse, who has metastatic breast cancer, the art therapy sessions offer more than an opportunity to create. They provide a place for them to reckon with the profound changes happening to their bodies while hanging onto their sense of self.
The studio itself invites creativity. Tall windows overlook the trees and landscaped grounds surrounding the museum and fill the welcoming space with soft, natural light. There is room for up to 20 participants, and the sessions often fill every seat. A few arrive with artistic experience, but most don’t. All are welcome.
The sessions are facilitated by Geoffrey Vaughn, LMFT, ATR, a medical-family therapist and licensed art therapist with Duke Cancer Institute's Patient Support Program. Rather than teaching art techniques, Vaughn offers an optional prompt to help participants explore their thoughts and emotions. They are free to follow the suggestion or pursue an entirely different idea. Materials are provided, and participants can choose from collage, painting, drawing, knitting, or sculpting.
A Way to Sort Through the Complicated Realities of Cancer
For Williams, a collage she created became a way to sort through the complicated realities of treatment for her kidney cancer. She placed a magazine cut out of medication in the center of her composition, explaining that it can be both helpful and harmful. While medications can treat cancer, their side effects sometimes create additional problems.
Around that central image, she incorporated the things that sustain her: support from others, help with expenses, better sleep and the importance of knowing her family history. She included an image representing herself in a wheelchair alongside a photograph of her great-niece, Dakota, with whom she regularly connects through FaceTime.
The collage reflects a life that has changed dramatically. After many years working as an occupational therapist working with children, singing in choirs, and pastoring a small church in Franklinton, NC, Williams had to retire because of her health. She has faced multiple medical challenges and acknowledges the difficulty of accepting the limitations illness has placed on her life.
Yet her perspective remains remarkably hopeful. Her extensive ancestry research, which traces her family back the 1600s, has helped her recognize the resilience of those who came before her.
“I can endure it because I’m made of a stock that can endure it,” she said. "There's always a bright, sunshiny day, and you need to look for the light.”
Connecting With People Who Understand
Rittenhouse brings a different perspective to the group. An accomplished collage artist, she has spent years working with vintage papers, found objects and other materials that carry personal meaning. Her artistic practice includes intricate collages and handmade, hand-stitched books.
Following her metastatic breast cancer diagnosis in 2019, Rittenhouse developed a series of autobiographical collages tracing her cancer experience from diagnosis to the present. The 12-part series follows her progression through chemotherapy, hospitalization, surgery, mastectomy, radiation, and ongoing medication. The final, intentionally blank piece represents the future.
Rittenhouse said that she values the Nasher sessions for reasons that go beyond making art. Her favorite part is connecting with people who understand what it means to live with cancer.
"People just get it," she said. "I always feel better having been there, having created something, and having spent time in community with other people going through similar things."
All art therapy sessions at the Nasher are provided cost free by the Duke Cancer Patient Support Program. To learn more about cancer support and survivorship services like Art Therapy @Nasher, visit dukehealth.org/cancersupport.
