BAY WINDOWS
MAY 24, 2001

Breast cancer survivor Dianna Matherly hopes her art will help other people fighting with their disease
by Stephen Dominic D'Agostino

Dianna Matherly once found a piece of black scrap wood in the trash. She glued a picture of a buxom blonde in the lower right corner and scratched the first words of the disco song "I Will Survive" into the wood. "First I was afraid, I was petrified! Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side." These words had special meaning to Matherly, for she was now living without something that had been with her for her entire life: her breasts. The 37-year-old artist has battled cancer twice, at ages 21 and 31. "That piece was me being playful about my cancer," Matherly says. Like her art, being playful has helped her through the ordeal.

The piece of wood, no larger than 5" by 7", was purchased by a man who had lost something that had been by his side-his lover, a victim of AIDS. He later told Matherly that he kept the piece on his nightstand. Not only did the piece remind him of his deceased partner, but it reminded him that he could survive.

Dianna Matherly is a survivor, and her works shown at the Tristan Gallery, which she co-owns with her partner Jessie Kalelkar, are glimpses into her struggles. Moreover, they reach out to others, express the feelings, and chronicle some of the experiences we all know-vulnerability, loneliness, being beaten down by life, and allowing ourselves to find strength in love.

The centerpieces of her show are simple black and white pastel works on paper consisting of simplifed human figures that seem to trail off at the hands and feet. Matherly achieves this effect by blowing the pastel dust off the page or rubbing it with her fingers. The works consist usually of two figures, one in a position of surrender or defeat-on the ground, or seemingly asleep or unconscious-and the other rising or aiding the first. "My works are figurative, non-gender and with them I tackle the feelings we all have," she says.

Finding the strength

The feelings, loneliness and fear, that inspired these works, collectively titled "Getting Back Up," were the side effects of her battle with cancer. "There was a time I feared I would die in my sleep because of the chemotherapy," Matherly says. At that time, she also didn't think it was right for her to let love into her life until she knew she would survive. The pieces, Matherly explains, represent her finding the strength to rise from the physical and emotional exhaustion brought on both by cancer and its treatment. Or perhaps they represent being protected and nurtured by someone else. "They could be me dreaming of having someone to comfort me," she says, "or of me loving myself as a way to dispel loneliness."

"Yellow, Getting Back Up", for example, shows two figures, one on hands and knees with head torqued to look at another figure that is not only rising up but, with one arm thrown into the air, appears triumphant. "The Many Sides of Me," perhaps the most striking piece in the series, presents several figures in tangled confusion. And like "Yellow, Getting Back Up," there is one figure rising from this chaos.

Other works included in this small show are two large works, "Moving On Together" and "Drifting Through Our Storms," both acrylic paint on canvas. Though the medium is different, the works touch on several similar themes as "Getting Back Up." Like the pastel on paper works, these paintings represent non-gender figures, so close together as to be one, adrift in small boats seemingly suspended somewhere between seething sea and serious sky. Though the scenes can appear foreboding, there is a sense of serenity in these works. It seems certain that these two figures will make it to safety or by being together have already achieved it.

These non-gender figure, also appear throughout the books of drawings she refers to as her journals. Matherly was given the first of these shortly after her grandmother died in October 1991 with the suggestion that she dig deep into her emotions. The advice seemed to pay off; in March 1994 she was part of her first group show. Three months later she hung her first solo show at Club Cafe. Over these seven-and-a-half years, Matherly has filled 35 journals. She hopes one day to publish some of her journal drawings as a coffee table book in an effort to connect to people who may have had similar struggles.

"A lot of my work is a voice for some people who can't put thier emotions into words," Matherly says. Sometimes though, she can give people's emotions too strong a voice. Once, a man fell in love with one of her works, but decided he couldn't buy it. It had touched him so deeply, he didn't think he could have it hanging in his home.

"That," Matherly says, "is a great compliment."

Dianna Matherly's work is on exhibit at Tristan Gallery, 148 Commercial Street, Provincetown, Mass. and at the J & W Gallery, New Hope, Penn.