This month sees a landmark fundraising exhibition for Suffolk charity Art for Cure as it returns to where it all began - the home of founder Belinda Gray
It's an art exhibition with a difference - more than 100 artists, ceramicists, printmakers, photographers and sculptors showing (and selling) their work in the beautiful surroundings of Belinda Gray's home near Woodbridge.
For host Belinda, it's an extra special occasion - a way of saying thank you to the many people who have supported her and Art For Cure, the charity she founded eight years ago. Together they have raised more than £1 million pounds for breast cancer research and care. No wonder she's calling the exhibition Fanfare.
"This is where it all began," she says. Indeed, it was in 2014, after her own "shattering" diagnosis of breast cancer, followed by treatment, that Belinda decided to put her new found energy into raising money for breast cancer research. She wanted to make a donation - however small - towards treatment, care and finding a cure. "I was fighting back," she says. "It was my way of dealing with having had cancer. It was very cathartic." Belinda organised a modest art exhibition at her home with artists donating their commission to the cause... and raised £100,000 in a weekend.
"I never saw it going beyond one exhibition," she says, "but there was this huge drive in me to move on and do this. It took me in a completely different direction." Art For Cure became a registered national charity with an event team, a board of experienced trustees, and more than 150 unpaid volunteers who have organised exhibitions at Glemham Hall, Somerleyton Hall, Bankside Gallery next to Tate Modern in London, BallroomArts in Aldeburgh, plus online art sales. There was also a bike ride from Vietnam to Cambodia and another is planned for Kerala in November this year.
It would be easy to think the battle against breast cancer has been won, such are the advances in treatments, survival and recovery. But the disease now affects one in seven people in the UK (men as well as women), with diagnoses coming at a younger age. So Art for Cure is not slowing down. The money they raise is channelled into national research projects which are scrupulously vetted and Belinda is constantly in touch with people at the heart of trying to conquer the disease. AFC also funds much needed breast cancer services in Suffolk that work alongside NHS breast care teams.
Liz Hardy has been helped by AFC funded services. Diagnosed in January 2021, she says her experience at Ipswich Hospital was a positive one. She was diagnosed early, had a lumpectomy and radiotherapy, and has made a good recovery, helped by her very supportive family. But she says going through it during the Covid pandemic made it more challenging, partly because she wasn't able to see and talk to friends. "I had a few side effects from the radiotherapy - it affected my moods quite a bit and I needed to talk to someone," she says. Liz was helped by counselling from the breast cancer care team, and care packages from Little Lifts, a Norfolk based charity which provides support and comfort to patients. Little Lifts boxes are full of specially selected items to help alleviate some of the side effects that women may experience.
Liberty Godwin, also diagnosed and treated during the pandemic, was hugely grateful for the way AFC funded services helped not just her but also her family. "Counselling meant I could talk to someone about my deepest, darkest moments without having to put my husband through it," she says. "You can be in a circle of people - family and friends - and still feel completely alone with the illness. Covid made that much worse."
Belinda has reached out to artists and sculptors both locally and nationally for AFC. The response has been incredible and more than £2.5 million worth of art has been sold through eight exhibitions. One of them is Suffolk-based Sarah Muir Poland, who has supported AFC since its earliest days, and has found the experience something of an eye opener. "When I first met Belinda I was bowled over, impressed by her energy and just wanted to be involved," she says. "I was more of a landscape painter but gradually, over the years, I've been encouraged by Belinda to paint women." The exhibitions have brought her not just the satisfaction of helping a cause but greater exposure for her work and new audiences. The AFC exhibitions are extremely welcoming and accessible, attracting people who perhaps wouldn't normally set foot in a gallery. They can meet artists and even if they can't afford original work there are reasonably priced artists' prints and other merchandise available.
It was buying a painting that drew Nick Crocker, who runs Red House Interiors, into the AFC team. He now helps organise exhibitions, curating sculpture. Nick moved to Suffolk in 2013 just as his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. "I felt helpless at the time," he says. "It's such a joy to be involved with people dedicated to helping. Artists now come to us, wanting to be involved which is just wonderful."
Fanfare: April 30 - May 2, Bredfield near Woodbridge. Tickets and details at artforcure.org.uk
