Celebrate Art/Benefit Science
June 9 at Bittersweet Gallery
Anne-Marie Chagnon: 2018 Collection: Point of Origin

Bittersweet Gallery owner Cheryl Babineau and her husband sculptor/artist Richard Gill first discovered the work of Anne Marie Chagnon at a show in Montreal and have been representing her jewellery designs since 2001. For more than a decade the gallery has celebrated her latest creations with a popular spring launch and trunk show that benefits Ovarian Cancer research.

In her 2018 collection: Point of Origin, Anne-Marie captures the terrestrial beauty of raw material and form incorporating fresh water pearls, glass marbleized swirls of brilliantly hued acrylic pigment. Pewter mounds blossom to depict summer flowers and wood streaked with grain rises like captivating seaside cliffs.

THE ART

Anne-Marie Chagnon draws her inspiration from all that surrounds her. Humanity and its creations. Nature and our interactions with Her. By chatting with someone, simply by looking at their style, gestures, postures, the way their hair falls on their shoulders, the artist can have an idea. Perceptions, emotional intelligence and psychology fascinate her just as much.

In each collection, an inspiration dominates. For weeks, sometimes months, the artist sketches, draws, paints, brainstorming creative options to outline the course that defines her. These first drafts are sometimes used as is or kept safely to be used in another collection, another year. After having imagined and drawn the dominant designs the artist gives them shape through countless hours of wax sculpting. Once this stage completed, pewter, gold, copper, resin and glass are cast into the shapes imagined and sculpted by her and come to life. Surrounded by her creative team, she plays and juggles with the pieces, to form the final jewellery designs that will be included in the collection. That is how she prolongs, over two decades, the history of emotions and authenticity she considers a privilege to share with women who distinguish themselves by their independence of spirit and desire for self expression.

Once again Bittersweet will be donating a portion of the proceeds directly to the Ovarian Cancer Research Team at University of Ottawa. Cheryl is also pleased to say that members of the Barbara Vanderhyden research team will be in attendance. Dr. Vanderhyden is a recipient of the Dr. J. David Grimes Research Career Achievement Award, the Capital Educator’s Award and the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award.

THE SCIENCE

The Vanderhyden lab studies many aspects of ovarian cancer, including the role of specific genes in human ovarian cancer initiation, progression, chemo-sensitivity and prognosis. They create model systems of ovarian cancer to study disease initiation and to test the therapeutic efficacy of novel anti-cancer drugs. They are particularly interested in the role of stem cells in the ovarian and oviductal epithelia and their contribution to cancer initiation. With a growing interest in chromatin remodeling proteins, they are exploring the roles of these proteins in reproductive tissues, including ovary, placenta and embryonic stem cells.

Why is it vital to fund clinical and fundamental research on ovarian cancer?
Still very unknown to the public, it is the deadliest gynecological cancer.

• No screening test currently exists. Therefore, in 75% of cases, ovarian cancer is diagnosed at a stage too advanced for a cure to be possible.

• Despite remarkable progress in technology and chemotherapy, the five-year survival rate for patients at an advanced stage of ovarian cancer is as low as 15 to 25%.

• In Canada, 17,000 women are battling ovarian cancer right now and 2,600 more will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year.

• Research is the greatest hope for ovarian cancer patients and their families – and for all women, as each is susceptible to suffer from it one day

The team is optimistic that all of the recent work in cancer research, including studies in genetic or viral therapy, may in some parts be transferable to the treatment of ovarian cancer. The approach is to develop the platform for scientists from all disciplines to share their work, and to find ways to transform this information into applicable treatments.

In the meantime those who are interested can make donations to this cause directly online at alumni.uottawa.ca/ovarian-cancer-research



Point of Origin opens at Bittersweet Gallery in Burnstown Saturday, June 9 - 11 to 5

Light refreshments will be served and there will be door prizes of jewellery and art. 

For more details call: 613-432-5254 day or: 613-433-9990