about the dates where we go out for
dinner and a movie I’m talking about the
dates in our lives that no matter how
many years pass it’s a date that you
will never forget the dates that hit in
all the memories and symbolism come
flooding back as if it were yesterday
my date is May 29th 2009 on that day art
no longer was just a hobby but a way of
coping and escaping the world around me
for just a brief moment many people
think of art as a hobby or a class you
take or something that an artist does
for fun and quite frankly I used to
think the same thing although I had a
love for art and it seemed to be
something at which I was good I never
saw any deeper meaning than just making
pretty things however my viewpoint
changed when I faced a trial in my life
that made me begin relying on art in a
different way art has the power to heal
evoke a feeling or emotion teach history
and social norms and many more things
yet it is still being pushed out of our
educational systems because of the lack
of knowledge of what it can do for our
lives and our children’s lives
my sister Chelsea and I grew up with two
close cousin Savannah and Sierra like
Savannah and Chelsea Sierra and I were
the same age and we were inseparable in
the spring of 2007 Sierra and I were on
the same middle
called cheer squad and basketball team I
was with Sierra at a birthday party when
she fell and broke her knee at the
hospital the doctor said it shouldn’t
have broken that easily then they
noticed something didn’t look right on
the x-ray so they sent her away for more
scans and testing and our family
anxiously waited for the results we
received the terrible news Sierra was
diagnosed with osteosarcoma cancer
immediately Sierra started chemotherapy
and radiation treatments and started to
lose her beautiful red hair the next
couple of months were a constant trial
watching her be sick during and after
chemotherapy treatments all while
maintaining her studies in school Sierra
had a first surgery on her knee
but unfortunately the cancer continued
to spread and the only solution was to
have her leg amputated the doctors
performed an experimental open wound
technique so she would have bi-weekly
cleaning treatments these cleanings were
extremely painful so I would lay in bed
with her and together we would paint
just to take her mind off of the pain
this was the first time I saw art in a
different light than I had before an
escape and a distraction from the world
a little over a year after her diagnosis
she was flown to Houston for a check-up
where we got the news that the cancer
had spread to her lungs and there was no
way to stop it our family drove to
Houston and stayed near the hospital for
two weeks while we were there my father
and I would view the art hung on the
hospital walls which had been created by
the patient and other artists to bring
life and joy to the hospital when she
was then moved to hospice we sat at her
bedside until Ciara passed away on May
29th 2009 from that point on our family
all found ways to cope with the grief
and move forward for me it was through
art art became more than just a hobby it
became a form of expression and almost a
form of desperation to show how I was
feeling when words weren’t enough in
fact the painting I’m making today is
derived from a drawing that I quickly
sketched on a scrap piece of paper
during Sierra’s battle with cancer after
drawing it I shoved it in my sketchbook
and forgot about it
my mother and sister found it in my room
about a year ago I had all of these
thoughts and feelings about my life but
I couldn’t express them in any other way
than through my art it was my crutch and
my stronghold it was always there
unfailingly whenever I needed it art can
be an expression of happiness trial life
death and is something you can get lost
in and be still in be still being still
is more difficult than it sounds
for not being still is one of our
society’s biggest problems with all that
the technology and entertainment
available to us we move faster than life
without a moment to sit in silence with
no distractions
we either feel guilty that we are not
being productive or it is too silent and
still that our mind does not know how to
handle it that’s the beauty of painting
and producing art it forces you to be
still no distractions no technology just
you your brush and your canvas in this
flow state your mind begins to focus
solely on the brush strokes and
subconsciously process life art has a
beautiful way of sneaking into your mind
and asking you the right questions and
processing the answers art has shaped
our society in history in so many ways
we admire artists who spent hours upon
hours on paintings that are hung on the
most prestigious gallery walls in the
world I’ve been privileged to stare at
the beauty of some of the world’s most
famous original pieces of art including
the Mona Lisa as I stood there all I
wanted to know where the stories and the
emotions that were processed within the
brushstrokes of the artist sometimes the
best art is produced under the worst and
most unfortunate circumstances some
recognizable artists including
Caravaggio Moke Rembrandt and Picasso
experienced tragedy during their lives
and used art as a form of expression and
reflection from those hard times their
art tells a story sometimes we find it
difficult to interpret their story but
we know it’s there
had their works not been produced or
preserved generations would have lost
the benefit of their stories many of you
have been through some form of tragedy
and hardship hard times are going to
come but it is up to us to deal with
those hard times in ways that will be
beneficial to us and our perspective on
life you may be thinking I’m not an
artist I could never paint or produce
artwork you don’t have to be an artist
to make art in a sense we have all been
artists our whole lives our lives are
made up of many brushstrokes that form
who we are and at the end of it all I
hope that we have a finished painting
that shows how we persevered through the
hard times slow down
concentrate on the brushstrokes and be
the artist of your own life for our
well-being as a society we must continue
to invest in education and support
artists if we continue to view art
education as just a hobby and miss the
deeper value to the individual artist we
risk conceding to the fast pace and
losing generations of stories told from
the emotional perspective of the artist
art gives you a different point of view
on something that you have been looking
at for so long and if you give it a
chance it just might help you cope as
well my story today is about Sara
Elizabeth brand she was so beautiful she
died from osteosarcoma at the age of 15
she was my cousin and my best
I know my story today inspires you to
cope with your own tragedy or to support
artists and art education or to find a cure for this terrible