{"id":194002,"date":"2026-02-26T01:33:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T01:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/194002\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T01:33:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T01:33:16","slug":"san-francisco-museum-of-modern-art-features-the-works-of-bay-area-cancer-patients-slideshow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/194002\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Features the Works of Bay Area Cancer Patients [SLIDESHOW]"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Art for Recovery<\/a> program at University of California San Francisco (UCSF)<\/a> gives cancer patients and survivors a safe place to express the intense, complicated emotions that accompany a life-threatening illness. The program serves 200 patients a week via online and in-person art<\/a>, music<\/a> and writing workshops led by artists-in-residence, according to the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>. And now the creations of 30 UCSF cancer patients are hanging in an esteemed space known for its world-famous art\u2014the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Specifically, they\u2019re part of the exhibit Art for Recovery, which is housed on the second floor of SFMOMA on the walls of the cafe Steps, where they will remain on display through the spring. A mini profile of each artist and their cancer journey accompanies each piece.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Susanna Gershuny, a breast cancer<\/a> survivor featured in the SFMOMA exhibit, created a piece out of the hair she lost during chemotherapy<\/a>. She also wrote a book for her daughter explaining why she couldn\u2019t carry or bathe her.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

An Instagram post about her work mirrors the placard on display alongside her work; it reads:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cSusana\u2019s art explores femininity, identity, and the quiet devastation of loss during her breast cancer treatment in her 30s. Using her own hair and traditional techniques like spinning and cross-stitch, Susana transforms grief into tactile memory \u2014 reclaiming what was lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cArt allows you to take these complex emotions that you have inside and put them on paper,\u201d Gershuny told ABC7 News<\/a>. \u201cWhen you look at what it is you created, the thing that you feel inside feels a little bit less scary to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Similarly, the placard about Bill Skeet, who has prostate cancer<\/a> and created a multimedia piece titled Between Winter and Spring, explains:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in the Midwest drawing, painting and messing around with computers and came to the Bay Area in 1995 as a web designer. This Photoshop piece reflects where much of my post-cancer-diagnosis time is spent\u2014the muddy space between the \u2018winter\u2019 of cancer and the \u2018spring\u2019 of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Launch slideshow \"cancer\"\/ <\/p>\n

Sample of works from \u201cArt for Recovery\u201d at the San Francisco Museum of Modern ArtCourtesy of the UCSF Art for Recovery program and SFMOMA<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTypical talk therapy doesn\u2019t always work for people when they\u2019re in treatment because when you\u2019re processing the emotions of an illness, you\u2019re really processing grief<\/a>,\u201d said program director Amy Van Cleve in an interview with ABC7 News<\/a>. \u201cPeople need a space that they can get back into their skin, that they can feel what\u2019s going on and let it move through them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Artist, author and advocate Cindy Perlis<\/a> launched Art for Recovery in 1988 in the HIV<\/a> unit at Mount Zion Hospital to help patients express their innermost feelings. Mount Zion merged with UCSF in 1990, and Perlis expanded the program to include cancer patients, their families and health care workers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere aren\u2019t many places where patients can be supported through their initial diagnosis, through treatment and sometimes toward the end of their lives,\u201d said Perlis in her 2020 retirement letter<\/a>. \u201cArt for Recovery is a place where everyone will be seen and heard and where they will continue to find a community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In related news, check out our Can Heal profile with artist Pauline Decarmo<\/a>, who transforms several bouts of cancer\u2014and debilitating side effects\u2014into paintings and a lifestyle that inspire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Art for Recovery program at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) gives cancer patients and survivors a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-194002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-san-francisco","9":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","10":"tag-san-francisco-news","11":"tag-sf","12":"tag-sf-headlines","13":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}