By Charlotte Copeland

8 x 10 inches

Acrylic on canvas

IU Health Team Member

Nature is where my soul is visually content.

The vibrancy the colors, and the aliveness of nature rejuvenates and resonates within me. May you be bestowed with much health, happiness, and peace as you embark on your personal chronicle.

By Nicole Cox

24 x 24 inches

Acrylic paint

Caregiver/Family Member

My dad's remarkable recovery from multiple myeloma is because of the wonderful team of IU cancer center. His exceptional physical trainer Danny has helped him move again. We are grateful for her kind and caring way she does her job. The portrait is of her dogs.

By Samantha Miller

8 x 10 inches

Acrylic on canvas

Patient/Survivor

Long-haul COVID-19; Keratoconus, Dipoplia,

Glare Sensitivity, Pituitary Abnormality, Dry eye

Until recently, I never would have imagined participating in an art show. Then I attended a Paint Party, sparking the realization I can convey my visual experiences. Before, my inability to exactly copy the sample painting would have been disappointing. Now I m free to enjoy and share my perceptions like in my self-portrait of Blooming sight.

By Lisa Lynch Habegger

5 x 5 inches

Mixed Media- acrylic paint, paper,

thread, fabric on canvas

IU Health Team Member

By Kevin Miller

Acrylic paint on canvas

8 x 10 inches

IU Health Team Member

In a world where perfection is an illusion, I find beauty in the imperfect and the undefined. My work explores the fluidity of form and the absence of boundaries, capturing the essence of things as they are-raw, unfiltered, and unique. By embracing the flaws and the unexpected, I seek to challenge conventional notions of beauty and identity. Each piece is a reflection of the world as I see it: a place where difference is celebrated, and where every imperfection tells its own story.

By Susana Mariscal

Canvas, oil pastels, & mixed media 17"x11"

Patient/Survivor

Multiple myeloma & plasmacytoma

This visual chronicle represents the struggle, endurance, resilience, healing, and acceptance process I experienced following my stem cell transplant. My brain was affected: word retrieval, PTSD, anxiety, & depression. I felt lost. But I fought. I intentionally built brain pathways, mobilized strengths, resources, connections. The Universe is within me, Mother Earth flows & renews. I love and I'm loved. My son, neighbors, & friends were there for me. Music gave me strength & joy. While I don't know how long I have & I was dealt a +40 card, I am alive. I'll make my time count. I breathe, I love, I enjoy, I live, I flow. I'm more than cancer.

By Ross McKnight

24 x 36 inches

Oil on Canvas

Patient/ Survivor

APML

My name is Ross McKnight. I came to painting while obtaining my Master of Architecture degree at the IU J Irwin Miller Architecture Program. I found that painting is not about technical or photographic accuracy but to record how a place or moment felt to me. The two paintings included in this show are moments from my wife and I’s honeymoon in California. After spending five weeks in the ICU & NCU after my cancer diagnosis unable to go outside, these moments of outdoor adventure with my lovely wife are so cherished and provide me with the memory of our honeymoon and some of my favorite outdoor moments.

By Kathryn Reuschel

17 x 19 inches

Hand dyed cotton mask scraps, cotton thread,

and synthetic mesh fabric

Patient/Survivor

Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

This quilt represents the array of emotions and paths my journey has been and continues to be.  You can feel the chaos and order come together in every stitch. The darker fabrics represent my moments of fear and my struggles.  While the lighter fabrics represent hope, transformation and how light can emerge even in the darkest of journeys. It shows endurance and that despite cancer I emerged stronger.  No journey is ever linear. The stitches and raw edges represent that. My journey will never be over, but I have the strength and resilience to continue on whatever path comes my way. 

By Brian J Bullerdick

8 x 10 inches

Oil no Canvas

Patient/Survivor

Cancer at Base of Tongue in 2017

Color and the arts can really bring out the good in my life when I feel down or different. I feel so normal when I pick up my paint brush; a certain calm comes over me.  It’s such a wonderful feeling.  I often think of a saying my daughter Abbey came up with while I was struggling with chemo and radiation. She told me, “Never Have A Bad Day.”  There is good in every day. You just have to find it.  That has stuck with me for seven years now.  It’s usually the first thing I think about when I awake in the morning and lay down to rest every night, Color is really an amazing thing. It always makes me happy no matter how good the painting turns out. It’s the process.  

Enjoy the show! I really appreciate everyone involved!!

By Brian J Bullerdick

8 x 10 inches

Oil no Canvas

Patient/Survivor

Cancer at Base of Tongue in 2017

Color and the arts can really bring out the good in my life when I feel down or different. I feel so normal when I pick up my paint brush; a certain calm comes over me.  It’s such a wonderful feeling.  I often think of a saying my daughter Abbey came up with while I was struggling with chemo and radiation. She told me, “Never Have A Bad Day.”  There is good in every day. You just have to find it.  That has stuck with me for seven years now.  It’s usually the first thing I think about when I awake in the morning and lay down to rest every night, Color is really an amazing thing. It always makes me happy no matter how good the painting turns out. It’s the process.  

Enjoy the show! I really appreciate everyone involved!!

By K. Ragland

14 x 12.5 x 2.5 inches

Various diabetic and dialysis medical supplies,

staples, and industrial adhesive

Caregiver/Family Member

This is a commemoration of my husband Drew Ragland's 28-year journey through diabetes, kidney failure, and finally organ transplant. All the items used in this display were either used on him or are unused versions of things that were.

By Martina Trego

Acrylic paint on canvas

24 x 30 inches

IU Health Team Member

Martina Trego is an artist with Tourette's Syndrome. This piece represents the struggles of daily life because of this disability.

By Lisa Lynch Habegger

5 x 5 inches

Mixed Media- acrylic paint, paper,

thread, fabric on canvas

IU Health Team Member

By Lisa Lynch Habegger

5 x 5 inches

Mixed Media- acrylic paint, paper,

thread, fabric on canvas

IU Health Team Member

My artwork offers a visual chronical of my passion for art, a life-long passion for me. These three pieces are representative of my journey as an artist, combining elements from my early art explorations with my interests today.  

Combining my interest in nature and landscape with a more recent interest in images of man-made objects and indoor spaces, these works also offer a way for me to share my interest in drawing, then painting and most recently in fiber art with collage.

Exploring, creating art, has always been a powerful outlet for me, and a way to share with others. I feel that it’s also a way to honor my mother and her support in my life. She survived the challenges of living with breast cancer but passed in 2003 following her struggles with uterine cancer.       

Shea Borton

3.5 inches 

Ceramic stoneware clay

IU Health Team Member

Living waters flow from within. 

Drink deep of the river of life. 

Times of refreshment come from 

the Presence of the Lord. 

Matthew 26:26-29

By Samantha Miller

8 x 10 inches

Acrylic on canvas

Patient/Survivor

Long-haul COVID-19; Keratoconus, Dipoplia,

Glare Sensitivity, Pituitary Abnormality, Dry eye

As the world around me dims, it changes forms and colors. A scene of overlapping multiples can seem smaller in the middle. Lines, dots, and halos suddenly appear in my view. While creating Halo flowers, a color was in a different place on my palette than were I dipped my brush. I laughed aloud at the aqua, wondering if it would seem like a completely different shade in an hour. To make it real to me, I added some of the intended brown.

By Michael Alexander

Mixed Media

12 x12 x 10

IU Health Team Member

This art expressivity is about my bout with cancer in 2017. As with other life gained experiences; this was another “until it happens to you” fact-of-life reminder. I had a running start and lifelong relationship with God. I was ready to accept my fate. My unending thanks goes to the team of doctors, nurses, and other staff whose guiding hands and medical expertise made it possible for me to make it beyond surgery. No doubt it was a blessing having such a supportive wife (Gina) and cavalcade of other family and friends lending their emotional and spiritual support to see me through recovery. Also, being an IU Health employee helped me to meet my challenge head on knowing there were those before me who had endured worse cancer symptoms and suffering somehow survived… and now thrive. I have been blessed living in an age of medical methods, procedures, techniques, and technology of what used to be science fiction is now science fact.

By Michael Pietrocaelli

22.5 x 19 inches

Charcoal, pencil, and chalk

Patient/Survivor

Lung cancer

By Ross McKnight

24 x 36 inches

Oil on Canvas

Patient/ Survivor

APML

My name is Ross McKnight. I came to painting while obtaining my Master of Architecture degree at the IU J Irwin Miller Architecture Program. I found that painting is not about technical or photographic accuracy but to record how a place or moment felt to me. The two paintings included in this show are moments from my wife and I’s honeymoon in California. After spending five weeks in the ICU & NCU after my cancer diagnosis unable to go outside, these moments of outdoor adventure with my lovely wife are so cherished and provide me with the memory of our honeymoon and some of my favorite outdoor moments.

By Lisa Walls

8.5 x 6.5 x 2.5 inches

Mixed media box

Patient/Survivor

Acute Reoccurring Pancreatitis/Chronic Pancreatitis

By Laurie Wright

17 x 19 inches

Graphite on paper

Patient/Survivor

I was no different from any other woman facing chemo. The big question (after "is this thing trying to kill me?") .... will I lose my hair?

Before it started falling out, I asked my hairdresser to buzz my silver hair down to about an inch long because I did not want to have to clean my hair out of the shower drain. With my husband and several girlfriends in attendance, we turned my haircut into an event and had a lot of fun with it! My sense of humor got me through my treatments and made a big difference in my attitude.

Eventually, this is what I saw ..."Little Hairs Everywheres."

By Michael Pietrocaelli

30 x 26.5 inches

Pen and ink stipple

Patient/Survivor

Lung cancer

By Denise Justus

24 x 18.5 x 18.5 inches

Paper

IU Health Team Member

The paper flower program started at the Simon Cancer Center Gift Box in April '23 with the hope of providing colorful floral displays that could be purchased by guest for their loved ones to brighten their day during their journey. What started with one little paper flower has blossomed into a huge visual journey throughout the hospital. Hopefully these flowers will be shared allowing them to grow in our community by providing hope, beauty, and comfort to all who receive them. As the artist, I have watched my flowers evolve. They became more intricate, beautiful and colorful. I'm proud to say this mission has grown, benefiting both staff and guest.

By Michael Pietrocaelli

26 x 30 inches

Charcoal, pencil and chalk

Patient/Survivor

Lung cancer

By Brian J Bullerdick

12 x 24 inches

Oil no Canvas

Patient/Survivor

Cancer at Base of Tongue in 2017

What a wonderful theme for this year’s show.  When I sat down at my easel to begin my pieces of art, the subjects came easy.  Going through what a lot of us involved with the show art, has been a lot of the therapy that gets me through the process of finding a reason to move forward with the new life that I live every day.  I often remind myself there is something good with every day. You’ve just got to find it. 

Creating something that I’ve seen prior or something that is just a thought.  There is plenty of beauty that surrounds us every day. 

You just have to recognize it.

By Lisa Walls

10 x 11 inches

Photography

Patient/Survivor

Acute Reoccurring Pancreatitis/Chronic Pancreatitis

Image taken at The Springs, Oldenburg, Indiana July 24, 2024

By Linda Adeniyi

12 x 12 x 12 inches

Repurposed books and paper

IU Health Team Member

 One day we were living our life peacefully and the next day we were living in the hospital. When my husband was diagnosed with Idiopathic Retroperitoneal Fibrosis it changed everything instantly. Since it is a rare disease, there's wasn't a clear plan of recovery that the medical team could give us. We lived day-to-day which graduated to week-to-week and eventually month-to-month.  We are now blessed to be 8 years away from the initial fear and shock of the unexpected.

The new normal is now "normal". Although some days it feels like a story, we’d read about someone else, we quickly remember our miraculous healing journey.

By Julie Gosselin

10 x12 inches

Photography

IU Health Team Member 

We all have a path in life. Sometimes, the path takes a curve that we have to follow. Sometimes, the path leads you to an unexpected place. This path is leading from the Gloriette down to the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Unexpectedly, at the end of the path is a zoo on the palace grounds. Just like that unexpected zoo, a life journey can lead to unexpected places. This photograph was taken on my phone. The perspective of the tree line and the path was so striking in person, I had to stop and capture the image. The image is manipulated with the use of an app to create the watercolor affect.

Jenna Gates

24 x 24 inches

Canvas, acrylic and resin 

IU Health Team Member

Growing up in Washington state has made me always love rain. It makes me think of home and my family. 

It is naturally calming and beautiful. 

Rain gives life to everything it touches. 

Nature is healing. Some days in life are stormy and difficult, but then you think how far you have come and are thankful for those raindrops falling over your body. It invigorates your body and mind.

By Teresa Altemyer

22 x 25 inches

Watercolor on 300 lb cold press paper

Patient/Survivor

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Parkinson’s Disease, Breast Cancer

Several years ago, the couple in this painting walked into the Simon Cancer Center to attend a monthly meeting of the Blood Cancer Support Group that is made available through the generosity of the Heroes Foundation.  He had just been diagnosed with an uncommon type of blood cancer and he and his wife were seeking support and reassurance.  They became active participants in the group but after a few years his cancer progressed, and he would move through a succession of treatments until ultimately the only choice left was CAR T cell therapy. While very often successful this treatment extracts an extraordinarily heavy toll on the patient over the course of many months and involves the highest levels of toxicity. 

When visiting University Hospital to see these support group friends, I learned a bit more about what love looks like.  I witnessed how the love of this wonderful woman sustained and supported her husband in the worst of death-defying times. Her constant devotion was on display for all to see - but most especially for her husband to see.  She would constantly be at her husband’s side.  Their love and attitude and his sense of humor inspired everyone from the custodians to the nurses, to the doctors.

Together they shared the goal of ringing the bell that is on display in the painting for those who have completed their treatment.  And now, after a valiant struggle, the bell has been rung, the couple is at home in Terre Haute and recovery is taking place. 

This painting is meant to remind us of the healing power of love when life is put to the ultimate test.