Art, Cancer & Collaboration
2018–2024 · Continuing advocacy
By Erin McGee Ferrell
My experience of cancer takes shape in paintings, paper dolls, poetry, and films. This work also includes collaborations with researchers and patient advocates.
Live painting in the chemotherapy treatment room
In 2018, an eight-week live-painting project brought my work into a chemotherapy treatment room at New England Cancer Specialists, with support from the Maine Arts Commission and Artist & Craftsman Supply. Live-painting project
Co-authored with Elizabeth J. Parks-Stamm, Artist Impact studied patients’ and staff members’ responses to live painting. Research publication, 2019
Pirate Crew Paper Dolls
Pirate Crew Paper Doll Journey: Breast Cancer EducationWatch on YouTube ↗
My breast cancer diagnosis came after this project.
Pirate Crew Paper Dolls grew out of a team effort to help newly diagnosed patients understand treatment.
The dolls featured in my presentation at the National Organization for Arts in Health (NOAH) conference in Boston in 2019. Cancer advocacy profile, 2022
2019 poster credits: Erin McGee Ferrell, Elizabeth Parks-Stamm, Robyn Courtois-Colby, and Mary McCusker. The poster credits funding to New England Cancer Specialists and the Maine Arts Commission.
Poetry and the experience of treatment
Poems written during treatment became part of the paper-doll kits and The C Word exhibition.
Collaborating with cancer researchers
Work with Pamela Winfrey introduced me to cancer researchers and patient advocacy. She created NCSA and The C Word. Pamela Winfrey’s projects
My April 2023 artist residency at Arizona State University involved collaboration with Dr. Carlo Maley and the Arizona Cancer Evolution Center.
Collaboration with Dr. Diana Murray at Columbia’s Center for Cancer Systems Therapeutics (CaST) in December 2023 continued with a return project in June 2024. UNE feature
My role as a founding member of Navigating Cancer with Science and Art (NCSA) began in 2022.
For DREAM-High, my Art, Cancer, and Vulnerability module uses Pirate Crew Paper Dolls.
The C Word exhibition
Collaboration with Pamela Winfrey on The C Word: Artists, Scientists, and Patients Respond to Cancer included helping develop the exhibition and contributing paintings and paper dolls.
Created after five months of treatment, Chemotherapy Roller Coaster uses more than 40 NFC tags to connect the painting to poetry, videos, interviews, and cancer-related art.
The work was exhibited in Phoenix and at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, where Marianne Barthel was art curator. Selections were also shown at Columbia University. Exhibition history
Exhibition support: Arizona Cancer Evolution Center, National Cancer Institute, Cancer Systems Biology Consortium, ASU Biodesign Institute, and the 850 Biomedical Building.
Cancer research advocacy
Work with National Cancer Institute research networks involves patient advocacy, presentations, and poster judging. Recognition includes a CSBC research poster award in 2020.
Service as a consumer reviewer for the Department of Defense’s Breast Cancer Research Program spans 2021–2022 and 2026.
My advocacy includes co-founding CA6: Cancer + Art + Advocacy in 2024 and leading ongoing paper-doll workshops, including at Gilda’s Club Kentuckiana.
Barbie Has Cancer films, interviews, and coverage
The five Barbie Has Cancer stop-motion films explore diagnosis and treatment.
My YouTube channel · Watch the Barbie Has Cancer playlist
| Barbie Has Cancer film | Platform |
|---|---|
| Biopsy and Diagnosis | YouTube |
| Chemotherapy | YouTube |
| Mastectomy Reconstruction: Breast Cancer Education | YouTube |
| The Surgery: Breast Cancer Doll Video | YouTube |
| Chemo Week 16: Potato People | YouTube |
Additional films document the dolls’ development and my earlier chemotherapy-room project.
NEWS CENTER Maine: “Buddy to Buddy: Paper Dolls,” 2019
Podcast interviews:
- Savvy Painter: “Why Art Matters in the Painful Places of Life, with Erin McGee Ferrell” · Antrese Wood
- Bad Right Breast: “Artist Series #3 — Erin’s Story,” episode 60 · Laurie Brown Kindred · January 4, 2022. Bad Right Breast on Apple Podcasts
Related coverage: National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, “Erin McGee Ferrell: The Art of Cancer Advocacy”, May 5, 2022.
Research publication
Parks-Stamm, E. J., and Ferrell, E. M. (2019). Artist Impact: Effects of Live Art on Patients and Staff in an Outpatient Chemotherapy Treatment Environment. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 23(1), 92–96. DOI: 10.1188/19.CJON.92-96. Read the research abstract on PubMed.
Selected cancer-related publications
- A Healer While Healing, Maine Sunday Telegram, April 7, 2019.
- National Organization for Arts in Health newsletter, Art in Chemo project feature, November 2018.
- The Book of Arts: Cancer, Gallerium, 2021. Artwork reproduction.
People and institutions
- Marianne Barthel: art curator at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and director of its Arts and Humanities Program during this period.
- Dr. Diana Murray — my Columbia residency collaborator. Diana Murray’s NCI biography
- Pamela Winfrey's account of these projects — creator of NCSA and The C Word; my collaborator and introduction to patient advocacy.
- Carlo Maley at Arizona State University and the Arizona Cancer Evolution Center: cancer research collaboration and ASU residency context.
- National Cancer Institute: patient advocacy and research-outreach networks.
- Columbia University Center for Cancer Systems Therapeutics: residency and art/science collaboration.
- Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center: exhibition venue and art/medicine symposium context.
- National Organization for Arts in Health (NOAH): arts-in-health community and Boston conference presentation.