MEET SCOTT STONER: Artist-in-Residence

Scott Stoner has seen firsthand the power of art in healing “When I met “N” and her spouse “M” at the beginning of four months of chemotherapy treatment, she was hesitant to engage in creative activity, ” he explains.

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As is often the case, patients may experience fatigue, pain and general discomfort at various stages of chemotherapy. N was experiencing this at our session and I suggested she and M create a collage around an environmentallyconscious theme to celebrate Earth Day They went to work and created what I think is a beautiful and powerful piece. Both collages are represented on the HOPE Sculpture installation.

“Four months later, on N’s last day of chemotherapy, she brought in all of the collages and other work she had created during the sessions (she had laminated every piece at home) and lined them up across the window. I suggested she and M create one more collage, which they did, and decided it should reflect their plans to travel to various places around the world in the future.

“I continue to remain in touch with N, who has bounded back to a full life that included a recent cruise with M. I regularly draw upon her generosity to share how and why creative engagement has been critically important to her healing and well-being She has written:

“By introducing me to Inova Schar Cancer Institute’s Arts and Healing program, I feel that you gave me air (during chemo of all places where I could have felt stuck, not just by needles but with the situation and circumstances). As an adult getting to do art, I realize that pieces of art have life Each artist as a creator instills themselves into their pieces - such that the HOPE sculpture is not an inanimate object, but it brims with life. The energies that went into the making of the pieces remain, collectively representing, presenting, and reflecting life. The sculpture is not a still life. It is instilled with life. '”