A lot of planning goes into putting together our monthly Heroes Art Session, especially one that was as popular as our February Heroes Art Session. More than 30 childhood cancer heroes, brothers, sisters, parents, volunteers, staff, and talented Richmond artists came to our February Heroes Art Session.
We begin, like all projects, with a calendar. Erin and Sarah, Connor’s Heroes program staff, book a Sunday every month at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond. The Visual Arts Center generously donates their studio spaces for our Heroes Art Sessions. We have a crew of regulars: our volunteers — Samantha, Nora, and Melissa — and artists Jennike, Monica, and Nancy.
Sarah contacts the city’s top artists who have big hearts and will donate their talents to create with our heroes at a Sunday session. Sarah orders all the art supplies the artists need for their creations. Artists use the Heroes Art Sessions to try out new ideas and work with unusual materials. For the February Heroes Art Session, Noah Scalin showed the kids how to “paint” with stickers. Nico Cathcart let the kids experiment with colors on wood panels. The kids worked with Madison Fariburn on using paper to make a bouquet of flowers. Matt Lively rolled out large sheets of paper for the heroes to paint whatever they imagined.
Our Heroes Art Sessions welcome children in all stages of treatment. The Heroes Art Sessions lets them be free to create in a safe, welcoming space.
“As an art teacher, I see the restorative power of art. I watch a child use art to explore their feelings, gain a sense of pride, relieve stress, and play. Art is a kind of therapy that we all need to make time for. I love that Connor’s Heroes understands the power of art and allows our brave kids to create side-by-side with talented, professional artists.”
— Sarah Cross, Connor’s Heroes Program Coordinator
Your donations to Connor’s Heroes gives us the resources and staff to offer Heroes Art Sessions year-round. You will have a chance to win the stunning works of art created at our Heroes Art Session. We will put them up for auction at our Heroes Art Ball. Each piece is more than art. It is a permanent expression of the joy the child felt at that moment and much more powerful than their cancer.
“THANK YOU” from all of our February Art Session Heroes: *Persphone, Bart, Brody, Serenity, Kalliophe, *Charlie, Grayson, *Daynne, Angela, *Holden, Piper, *Savanna, *Javi, Alex, *Alvion, *Sophia, Emilo, *Zyann, *Jonathan, *Liana, Noella, Elaina, Taliah, *Tariq, Sulayman, *Koree, Elijah, Kacee, and *Autumn!
*Childhood Cancer Hero
