Correspondence regarding this article should go to: Terry Barrett Art Education and Art History University of North Texas 1155 Union Circle, #305100 Denton, TX 76203-5017 terry.barrett@unt.edu Terry Barrett TEACHING ARTIST JOURNAL 9(2), 90–100 Copyright © 2011, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC 90 ABSTRACT A TA reflects on his work with the ill, elderly, and their caregivers, in the context of his own experience with cancer. Experiencing Art With the l ll, the Elderly, and Their Caregivers This article is a personal narrative of a teaching artist reaching out to persons ill, elderly, and their caregivers because of his own experiences with cancer. As a teaching artist, the author serves schools and communities as an art critic, that is, one who facilitates discussions about works of art made by the learners or by established artists. Recently, he engaged small groups of people to look at works of contemporary art and to write about those artworks and what they meant to their lives. The article includes brief interpretations of life and art that these people wrote while knowing that what they wrote might be publicly shared with the hope that their writings would help others. The article gives witness to curative powers of art for both the teaching artist and those with whom he worked. The purpose of the article is to explore the effects of illness on a teaching artist, to share the power of art to positively affect lives, and to encourage teaching artists to work with the ill and the elderly, and their caregivers. Cancer’s Effects on a Teaching Artist I am now well, but not so long ago I was undergoing chemotherapy to counter late-stage Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Three years prior, an accidental discovery revealed renal cell carcinoma— kidney cancer. Both cancers were without symptoms of which I was aware. Both can be fatal. Both diagnoses shocked me. My experiences with cancer changed my life as a teacher, a visual artist, a writer, and as a human being. With the first diagnosis, the thought of death was immediate. I was not afraid to die; I’ve had a good life. If I were to succumb to the disease, however, I hoped that I would have some good months first. I wanted to make more art. Beautiful paintings that would provide joy to those who might see them. No edgy art. Only art that was optimistic and energizing. I thought that with luck I would have (Credit: Brent Hirak) Downloaded By: [Barrett, Terry][University of North Texas] At: 16:18 14 April 2011