Blog

The Inspiration

The age-old question “Does life imitate art, or does art imitate life?” shows up in my work time and time again. From my work on portraits to hope and strength becoming bronze. Art and life frequently blend together in my creative process. Keeping with the trend, I unveiled a new piece in 2019: a Trojan horse titled Breakthrough.

A year ago, my oncologist Dr. Flaig mentioned that a new cancer treatment that showed great promise in fighting bladder cancer. This treatment (enfortumab vedotin) has gained the nickname "Trojan horse" to describe its mechanism. This exciting news inspired the next natural thought, “I should sculpt this Trojan horse and create it in bronze.”

 

The Trojan horse metaphor is accurate - the mechanism for this new treatment is astonishing. It includes an antibody that attaches to a very specific site on the cancer cell surface. It also contains a linkage to one or two molecules of a chemo agent. Once attached to the cancer cell, the cell brings it inside (think Trojan horse and getting through the gate) and then the linkage releases the chemo agent inside the cell causing cell death.

 

Photo courtesy of Seattle Genetics

 

The Creative Process

I have never sculpted a horse before and I had a blast building this piece!

 

First Steps

I searched the Internet for images to help me formulate my vision. I found some pretty cool illustrations of Trojan horses, and settled on a Belgian draft breed to give me the shape and conformation I needed to create the armature (the internal structure that supports the clay). Here’s a snippet of those images that informed my vision:

 

Click image to view video

 

Second Steps

 Since I was new to sculpting horses, I needed to consult the experts. First, my sister Kim. She brought horses into our lives when we were teenagers. Together, we curried, brushed, braided, and shampooed every square inch of our horses. Complete with cleaning rocks, gravel, and manure out of hooves. I consulted next with Christine Hardy, a professor of equine science at Colorado State University Vet School. She brought a technical knowledge and many more images of horse pieces and parts. She also helped my clay model to evolve from My Favorite Pony to a realistic horse, especially the feet.  

The Challenges

There are always challenges to overcome in the creative process. Whether these challenges are truly obstacles or just speed bumps comes down to your mindset. Speed bumps are common occurrences in any creative endeavor; my armature failed halfway through the sculpting process. This was quickly solved by placing a 2 x 4 board under the belly.

 

 

The bulge on the back side of a horse's foot right above the hoof is called the fetlock joint - because this joint is actually very complex, it was difficult to sculpt. When organic questions come into play, it's best to break out the anatomy charts to figure it out - and that's just what I did. The results bring a realism to the piece that eradicate any last visages of My Favorite Pony! I considered this a minor challenge and was grateful that overall this piece went very well. Here’s a time-lapse peek at the sculpting process.

 

Click image to view video

Blessings

Breakthrough was unveiled in September at the Albert Institute for Bladder Cancer Research Annual Symposium. This event was both a celebration and a catalyst in the breakthrough status of treatments in the fight against bladder cancer. Many of the researchers, scientists, and doctors in attendance at this conference have had direct and successful impact on these breakthroughs and we had a lot to celebrate!

 

A close look at Breakthrough shows a powerful horse spirit breaking through the armaments of the Trojan horse: the cart, the wood and the metal.

 

 

A More Personal Blessing

The immunotherapy I have been on for almost 2 years is starting to fail. I now have a dozen cancerous lymph nodes in my body and it turns out that I really could use enfortumab vedotin as my next option. My other choice would be traditional chemotherapy. The BIG FAT blessing is that enfortumab vedotin was just approved by the FDA in mid-December 2019. I will start my infusions of this amazing treatment in early 2020.

 

Results

The metaphor I prefer in my journey with fighting cancer is that I am body-surfing. I am using the energy of the wave to thrust me forward. I just stay with it. As the wave is exhausted, I find a new wave and ride it the same way. I feel that I have been doing this with the 2 immunotherapies I’ve been on over the last 6 years. These waves have always been JUST IN TIME and I’ve never been beached.

 

I feel blessed, spookily inspired, and gifted with the creation of Breakthrough. It’s my strongest piece yet as I navigate sharing the creative interconnections of my life and art.