Last week a friend of mine, who also happens to be a breast cancer survivor, invited me to a truly amazing show opening. It is called Keep A Breast Treasured Chest, sponsored by the Keep A Breast foundation. The show featured the body casts of 14 breast cancer survivors which were subsequently painted by 14 different artists – each castee was paired with an artist, and the results were stunning. The gallery space, which is part of the Sentinel Hotel in downtown Portland, is intimate in size and the perfect setting for this potent work.

Here are the pieces, which speak for themselves. I have named the artists, but not the “castees” for privacy purposes. (The pink cast above was painted by Annamieka Hopps Davidson).

1. Kate Blairstone

2. Jason Borders

3. Lindsay Jo Holmes. This one is made from inlaid pieces of skateboards.

5. Ryan Bubins

6. David Rice

7. Jon Stommel

8. Sabrina Jackson

9. Jesse Reno

10. Jennifer Parks

Beautiful work, inspiring stories. Go check it out! Show will be up for the month of October.