Siobhan has been a local, Point Arena, guest artist at CHAC for years, and is now a current member. Her art media is painting on silk, and this 'Art Talk' is to make our viewers aware of her inspiring efforts to use art to promote an inner, psychic healing effect in cancer victims. Siobhan calls her process 'Empowerment Through Accessories.' We've taken some excerpts from her website at: https://www.siobhansilks.com/empowerment-thru-accessories/ to give some background and describe the process.

"In my late teens I watched the strongest woman I knew, my mother, cry as her hair fell out in reaction to the chemotherapy coursing through her veins. Empowerment arrived with her girlfriends and their array of entertaining headwear, but nothing made my mom feel beautiful."

Later, "In my mid thirties I watched, and felt, the power that came with a simple gesture given by strangers to my cancer ravished husband. He had been included in a prayer circle, not because we shared a faith or a friendship, just because we were struggling with life and death.

The empowerment experienced by this gesture from strangers was profound for both of us, the patient and the significant caregiver. This history has fermented into “Empowerment thru Accessories,” my mission to put silk scarves on the heads of women experiencing challenges such as chemotherapy. It seems to be one of life’s ironies, just when a woman is facing the gravity of what IS her life, something as trivial as an accessory becomes critical to warmth, if not fulfilling the basic need to feel feminine."

The development process ultimately culminated in Siobhan's realization of how to involve the patient in the Empowerment healing steps: "Recently, at the height of her battle with cancer, a friend came to my studio to help video tape my painting of large silk panels for a show in Colorado. Witnessing the cancers hold on her emotions that day, I handed her a paintbrush and asked her to work on the panel with me. The work was beautiful, as was the change in her. “Empowerment” morphed before my eyes, the realization that the act of painting the silk held transformational powers of its own. The vision became clear, women painting scarves for other women, empowering themselves with the act of creation, coupled with the feelings of empowerment you experience when sharing your creation with someone in need. Women gathering to learn, creating community, while supporting each other."

Siobhan's website (linked above) provides a PDF download, with step-by-step instructions for making and painting a scarf and with a source for materials.