Artful Bra Project Continues To Gather Steam

As It Approaches Two-Day October Debut

By Shannon Hicks

Newtown United, Inc, the 501(c)(3) organization of residents coordinating a special event to raise funds for Ann’s Place, The Home of I Can, has one month to go before its inaugural event to be presented in two parts. Ann’s Place is the Danbury-based organization that provides services for men, women, children, and families who are coping with the diagnoses of cancer, including breast cancer.

Newtown United: The Artful Bra will begin as a gala event at Edmond Town Hall the evening of Saturday, October 23, and then continue as a less formal event on Sunday, October 24.

Saturday evening will run from 7 to 10. It will feature the auction of at least 50 original works of art: lavishly decorated brassieres that have been refashioned into gorgeous works of art to be sold through silent auction. Artists, whom Rosemary Rau, the president and brain behind Newtown United, Inc, has dubbed her “bratistas,” have taken new padded bras sizes 38–40C and covered every surface with everything from sequins, felt, and mesh to cotton balls, feathers, and more.

Each finished work has a name and a theme, such as JoAnn Bruno’s creation, “Everything’s Coming Up Daisies.” Her finished design holds its basic shape but is absolutely covered with white and yellow plastic daisies of varying sizes. One of three bras decorated by Paula Hughes, “Sparkle Plenty” has been covered in blue netting and sparkles in honor Ms Hughes’s grandmothers.

There will also be a fashion show on Saturday, live music, “gourmet bites and petite desserts, and a surprise or two,” promises Ms Rau. The local incarnation of an event that is being shaped after fundraisers that have been held for a few years across the country, group decided to call itself Newtown United to celebrate the myriad backgrounds of the men and women who are working together to raise funds for cancer research.

Ms Rau’s original intent was to raise funds for an organization dedicated to breast cancer research.

“Bras are the symbol of all this, but it’s also about the wish to research this disease,” she said in July when launching the project. “We want to support research, and also the programs that help people cope, whether they are the patient or a friend of someone with cancer.”

The Artful Bra project asks people to suspend their focus from the core of each work of art; look beyond the base of each piece and see the finished product.

Evelyn Evagash’s finished project (see photo), in fact, will be on view in the children’s department at C.H. Booth Library during the weeks leading up to the October 23 auction. Called “The C Word Can Be Scary,” the apparel that Ms Evagash started with has been transformed into a soft sculpture featuring a pair of smiling scarecrows, one wearing a tan hat and the other dressed in a red bonnet. The former bra straps have been replaced with raffia, which also serves as the “hair” of the scarecrows that peeks out from under their headwear.

Other bras will be placed on display around town within the next week, said Ms Rau, giving the public an opportunity to see some of the pieces before they are auctioned off, as well as to confirm for themselves the fact that while they began life as an undergarment, the items have in fact been transformed into something else.

“This is nonconfrontational, nonsexual [art],” she said. The gala and marketplace are both meant to be enjoyed by all ages.

The fashion show will take place at 7:45 and bidding on the bras will close at 9:45.

“They’re taking off,” Ms Rau said this week of the growing collection of finished bras she has been receiving. “My house is filling with these beautiful works of art, and the artists are going in all different directions. This event is just going to be a feast for the eyes.”

Tickets for Saturday are $25 and will be available only in advance. Beginning this weekend tickets will be available at C.H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street; and Drug Center Pharmacy, 61 Church Hill Road. Additional locations may be announced.

“We really want people to come out and celebrate, as the name implies, Newtown uniting, coming together,” said Ms Rau, who launched the event from her dining room less than three months ago. “We also want to raise money to help others.”

On Sunday, Newtown United will present a final exhibit of the Artful Bras along with a marketplace that will run from 10 am until 3 pm, also in The Alexandria Room. Admission will be $5 for adults, free for ages 16 and under, and children will be given Halloween treat bags. Light refreshments will also be available for all visitors.

Newtown’s Artful Bra project is a spin-off of something started in 2006 by The Quilters of South Carolina (QSC), a statewide guild that, led by Sandra Baker, decided to create art bras specifically for the purpose of breast cancer awareness. Fifty original works of art were created by members of QSC and then toured to 31 different locations between February and October 2007. The unique, often entertaining and humorous, works of art raised awareness of breast cancer as well as memorialized those lost to the disease and survivors.

The art bras were auctioned and all proceeds from that event were donated to Best Chance Network, a program that helps Minnesota women ages 40–64 who need breast and cervical cancer screenings but do not have insurance and/or who meet certain income guidelines.

Ms Rau learned of The Artful Bra movement shortly after QSC debuted the project.

“My aunt, who is also a quilter, sent me an email about the South Carolina project and I loved it,” she told The Bee in July. “I made a promise to myself that I would do something similar.” A few things postponed the inception of Newtown’s Artful Bra journey.

Shortly after learning about The Artful Bra, Ms Rau’s family was affected by cancers. She lost her 49-year-old cousin to brain cancer and then an uncle succumbed to stomach cancer.

“Everyone is affected by cancer,” she said. “No one gets to walk away.” Now, however, she is moving forward.

“I’ve gleaned information from other groups and the chairmen of previous events, so I already know what to avoid,” she said. “Women are already coming out of the woodwork and it’s absolutely incredible. It energizes me.”

For additional information contact Rosemary Rau at 203-426-2226 or Marie Sturdevant at 203-740-2733.

Help Wanted For Bakers Brigade

While The Bountiful Board has already signed on to serve as the caterer for the first half of Saturday evening, Newtown United has decided to enlist the help of volunteers for part of the second half. A cookie buffet is being planned, and bakers are needed to help fill that need.

Bakers Brigade co-chairs Liz Arneth (203-426-5359) and Ginger Humeston (203-426-6650) would love to hear from residents willing to bake a few dozen cookies for Saturday night.

“This is a perfect way for someone to partner with Newtown United and share their talent,” encouraged Ms Rau.

Each volunteer will be asked to bake three dozen cookies. Mrs Arneth and Mrs Humeston will let each volunteer know what kind of cookie they should bake.