|
Featured in the October 2002 - February 2003 Exhibit :
The Bottles of Hope
The Bottles of Hope project was started in 1999 by a very special person, Diane Gregoire, who is a cancer survivor and polymer clay artist. Diane
found a way to use her special talents as an artist to cheer up the lives of cancer patients going through the ordeal of chemotherapy. Polymer clay is
a colorful and versatile man-made clay that can be sculpted, textured, stamped and combined in a multitude of ways to produce unique designs in
pieces of art. Visit The Bottles of Hope Web Site: http://www.scpcg.org/bottlesofhopepage.htm In her own words, this is how Diane conceived of the project: "I was actually getting a chemo treatment at the Woman and Infant's Breast Health Center and playing with my clay. On the days of getting TAXOL I was there for 6 to 7 hours every week, and I noticed that the nurses threw away tons of small, glass medication bottles. After making sure they were non-toxic, I took some home, covered them with clay and made tops for them. When I brought them back in for the nurses, they LOVED them and so did some of the patients who saw me making them. They seemed fascinated with the clay and the colors, and for a while, they made people forget where they were. I started giving them away to the friends I had made at the center and called them "Wish Bottles". I told my friends to just make a wish, write it down and put it in the bottle, and it would come true. I don't know why, but we all just believed this... maybe because we just wanted to, or that it was something to hold onto. But they LOVED these little bottles. They brought together - for one moment - women sharing pain without having to speak about it. Now all the staff has them and they are all over! I bring them down and put them on the window sill, and when the patients ask, the nurses tell them about me and the meaning of the bottles, which now have grown into Bottles of Hope!" Since then, Diane has run workshops at the hospital where patients themselves cover bottles with polymer clay to make their own Bottles of Hope. Thanks to the members of the Southern Connecticut Polymer Clay Guild, bottles have been distributed to patients at other hospitals in New England. Guild members cover bottles in their spare time, run contests and hold workshops to encourage the Bottles of Hope project. Our hope is that other art guilds around the country will also participate and bring Bottles of Hope to cancer patients at hospitals and treatment centers everywhere. |