22 July 2006
Saturday, 7:30 PM
High-Level Journal Summary: Learning that artist Rosemary Feit Covey will be hosting a party at her studio in Alexandria, Virginia to celebrate the premier of her brain cancer art. This art has been in creation over the past 1 year and has been Rosemary's exclusive focus. It is rare to have this sort of attention from an artist of Rosemary's calibre.
After providing a high-level summary of all the artistic events in the past year that have led to this celebration, a sketch of this party is provided. For now, the main thing is to provide the logistics. So, mark your calendars for October 14th, 2006 at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia!
Countdowns:
1.) Day 13 of 28 in my 10th 5/23 Temodar chemotherapy cycle.
2.) Yearly Speech Language Pathology meeting at NIH on 7/27/06.
3.) Bi-monthly Perfusion MRI at NIH is on 7/27/06.
4.) Review of Perfusion MRI with Dr. Howard Fine is on 7/28/06.
Seizure Activity:
1.) Last Simple Partial Seizure, or SPS, was 10 days ago. The streak without an SPS continues.
2.) I have now had 34 SPS's in the past 212 days (since 12/22/05). This is an average of 1 every 6.2 days.
Actual Journal: Things came full circle today. I was able to meet with artist Rosemary Feit Covey at her studio in the Torpedo Factory (Old Town Alexandria, Virginia). For a little over a year now, Rosemary has been working on art related to the subject of brain cancer. Today, she talked with me about an opening exhibit & celebration for all this art, which will be on 14 October 2006 (Saturday), from 2-5 PM at the Torpedo Factory.
How we got to this point
Here is a quick, high-level chronology of events that have led to this point. (References to past journals are provided with hyperlinked dates.)
1.) Mid-1970's - I met Rosemary Feit Covey for the first time when she was barely 20 and just getting started at the Torpedo Factory.
2.) 6/16/05 - Reflecting upon a work by Rosemary I already owned. This helped me to realize that Rosemary would be a great artist to take on the subject of brain cancer.
3.) 7/2/05 - I talked with Rosemary about the idea of doing this art. She had to think about it, so I was on pins and needles for about a week as she made this decision.
4.) 7/11/05 - Discussed contract with Rosemary for commissioning this art work.
5.) 7/20/05 - Rosemary started to climb the learning curve of brain cancer, attending medical meetings at NYU with the Brain Tumor Team (Mom, Dad, me).
6.) 8/5/05 - Rosemary continued to climb the learning curve, going to NIH to watch and sketch my MRI on the day I was to learn if my brain tumor had become fast-growing or not, post-surgery.
7.) 10/21/05 - Seeing initial samples of Rosemary's brain cancer art.
8.) 2/9/06 - Seeing the first 4 completed brain cancer images created by Rosemary.
9.) 3/3/06 - Getting blown away by an "Astrocytoma Overlay" piece by Rosemary. This is her piece de resistance and the product of months and months of work.
10.) 3/13/06 - Learning that Rosemary's brain cancer art helped her to win an international exhibit at the International Museum of Surgical Science.
11.) 4/7/06 - Learning that my neuro-oncologist, Dr. Howard Fine at NIH, is interested in Rosemary's brain cancer art.
12.) 6/4/06 - Seeing Rosemary after attending the Memorial Service for Rodney, who had just died from brain cancer. Particularly feeling the impact of working with Rosemary, in the moment.
13.) 6/26/06 - Seeing the full breadth of Rosemary's brain cancer art for the first time, the product of a year of almost fulltime effort on her part.
14.) 7/19/06 - Learning that neuropathologist Dr. Douglas C. Miller at NYU is also interested in Rosemary's brain cancer art.
Opening celebration
At this point, all of Rosemary's brain cancer art work has been historically documented via professional photography. Among other things, Rosemary will use these photographs for museum catalogs and for promoting her work. However, these boring logistics are not quite enough to make this project feel "complete." To mark this occasion, Rosemary will be hosting a party to celebrate.
It is going to be an open house celebration in her studio. More details will come later, but it is at a time when friends and strangers from the street can all mingle in her studio and see this new work. As well, some works will be available for interested art collectors. Rosemary scheduled it so that people could come in right after lunch or right before dinner, since there are so many great places to eat in the Old Town section of Alexandria, Virginia.
Rosemary also wants to have snacks that are lemon-related, such as lemonade and lemon cake. This is because of this website called 38 Lemon...which has this name since I was 38 years old when diagnosed and my brain tumor was the size of a lemon. Perhaps not realizing that I am not a cook, Rosemary asked me to keep an eye out for brain-related novelty food. (I think I'll have to call upon the creativity of friends who get into this cooking thing.)
In any case, this really is marking the end of a long process of creating this art. I have said from day 1 that this is more about the process than anything else for me. However, the product of the past year of artwork is simply fabulous. This is world-class art that will be in museums and in art books around the world. But, that is my biased opinion. It will be interesting to hear the reactions of friends, family, and strangers at this opening event on October 14th, 2006.
So, mark your calendars -- and I will see you there!
