Cancervive cyclists deliver murals to cancer centres
Murals created by The Foundation for Hospital Art unite riders and warriors while bringing beauty to Alberta and Ontario cancer centres.

In an effort to link the missions and people of two partnering organizations, Art à la Carte introduced a unique art project to the Cancervive peloton* in 2007. Riders, warriors and their supporters created original mandalas, an ancient Sanskrit symbol for wholeness, as a means to illustrate their collective stories. What resulted were true works of art that brought everyone closer together.

Medicine Hat Installation (Image by Palliser Health Region Communications)

With this same objective in mind, colour-coded murals created by The Foundation for Hospital Art www.hospitalart.org were purchased by Art à la Carte and painted en masse at a series of Cancervive events. Regardless of whether the venue was a black tie gala or picnic in the park, Hospital Art founder John Feight, created the perfect template for barrier-free artistry – No experience required to achieve beautiful results.

Unity was the theme for the 2008 ride and the mural project succeeded in bringing all ages of supporters together. Rider Bryan Lunge arranged an early stop in his native town of Medicine Hat where he and his teammates presented their mural, “Aquarium”, to an appreciative group of administrators and staff at the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital Cancer Clinic.

Maureen McGregor peddled all the way to her native Ontario where a similar presentation was made to Wellspring Niagara. This was especially meaningful to Maureen and Brian because of Cancervive’s deep commitment to the Wellspring model of offering compassionate care to families living with cancer.

A third mural was completed at Articipation, the homecoming celebration for the 2008 peloton hosted by Art à la Carte.

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* What exactly is a peloton? While it is sometimes connected with the English platoon, the word literally comes from the French meaning ball. To save energy, riders draft (ride very closely) behind the other riders. Each cyclist makes slight adjustments in response to those around them, creating an integrated unit much like birds flying in formation.

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