The Artful Bra—

An Uplifting Fundraiser Is In The Works

By Shannon Hicks

Paula Brinkman Hughes often finds herself returning to themes within her artwork.

The artist, who lives with her husband and daughter in the center of Newtown, was living in New York City in the early 1990s when she found herself using bras as the base for a series of artworks.

“I still don’t know why,” she said recently, sitting at a glass-top table in her backyard during the recent heat wave, a pitcher of ice water nearby while she and friend Rosemary Rau discussed a new project. “There was no subliminal message with those art bras. I just used them — as well as socks and underwear — as the canvas of some work.”

Ms Hughes — who has in fact returned to the town where she grew up to raise Mackenzie, her daughter with husband John — recalled nights where she would dip bras into paint and then let them hang to dry before adorning them with everything from sequins, stamps, and colored ribbons to more layers of colored paint and letters clipped from magazines and newspapers.

She was encouraged by some of the women in the office where she was working at the time, and even sold a few of those “art bras,” as she calls them. But then her attention shifted and so did her interest with the bras, which were packed into storage.

Fast forward two decades. Ms Hughes is celebrating the opening reception of her latest show, “All Dolled Up,” which was an eight-week presentation of her latest works — spirit dolls — at Good News Café earlier this year. She and Newtown residents Rosemary Rau met during the exhibition’s opening reception on March 14. One of the dolls, each of which is handmade and unique, featured materials that pictured bras. There was, said Ms Hughes, “an instant connection.”

“We started chatting and when this bra event was mentioned, a light went off in my head,” Ms Hughes said.

That “bra event” is something that Newtown residents of all ages will be invited to attend in October. The Artful Bras: Perfect Pairs will be a two-day event, celebrating breast cancer survivors while raising funds to help continue research into the disease as well as those who support its patients.

Mrs Rau, along with fellow event co-chairs Marianne Scanlon and Marie Sturdevant, and with a committee that includes six others (and counting) are planning a gala silent auction to take place Saturday, October 23, in The Alexandria Room at Edmond Town Hall, followed on Sunday, October 24, by an exhibition and vendor area. Tickets will be sold for both events, with proceeds to benefit as-yet-determined groups.

The 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.

After their exhibition tour, 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.

Similar events have been held since.

In April 2009, Spokane, Wash., hosted an art bra collection that included “Thanks for the Mammaries,” which sang a song; “The Mardi-Bra,” which celebrated life; and “The Man Bro,” which reminded showgoers that men also get breast cancer.

In late August to mid September 2009, a group in Corpus Christi, Texas, presented “BRAvo” at The Art Museum of South Texas, which included 60 art bras and saw more than 2,000 visitors on opening night alone.

And last October, The Hockaday Museum in Montana offered a four-day Artful Bra exhibit before sending the collection on the road to a number of venues, scheduled to conclude next month with an auction for Save-A-Sister. Among the selections in that show are “38 Sea” by Joy Heely, in which the artist created a view under the sea using a size 38C bra; Kim Brubaker’s “Bosom Buddies,” which played on the traditional Comedy and Drama theater masks; and Treg Miller’s “The Power Bra,” a pink camouflage bra complete with bullets, dog tags, and a US Marine banner.

Rosemary 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 said this week. “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 recently lost her 49-year-old cousin to brain cancer and just four weeks ago, 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.”

Newtown’s Artful Bra committee, who have named themselves Newtown United to celebrate the women and men from myriad backgrounds who have already signed on to the project, is in the process of becoming a 501(c)(3) organization. They will be donating all the proceeds from the October event.

“Bras are the symbol of all this — breast cancer, research, patients and survivors, and those who help folks struggling with the disease,” said Ms Rau. “This will be a full fundraiser for organizations of breast cancer research and groups that help those struggling with this disease.”

The details concerning the beneficiaries of The Artful Bra: Perfect Pairs United will be announced once they are firm.

Two Down, Dozens To Go

Ms Hughes has already created two Artful Bras for Perfect Pairs. After meeting Mrs Rau back in March and listening to her pitch for The Artful Bra, Ms Hughes was hooked.

When Mrs Rau hosted an organizational meeting at her house in June to share the idea of the event and her need for committee members to get The Artful Bra off the ground, Ms Hughes’s first bra debuted.

Sparkle Bra is covered with sequins, with a handful of accent glitter along its front area. A large floral-like silver sequin is at the center of each cup, surrounded by a circle of purple sequins. From there, patches of blue, silver, gold, bronze, and yellow sequins cover the bra’s cups and lower straps.

The shoulder straps are covered on one side by gold, silver, and bronze sequins, while the interior of the straps are lined with purple sequins. The interior of the cups — every surface of an art bra, at least for the Newtown event, must be covered — has been lined with a dark blue netting.

“This one was created first, with the Newtown event in mind,” Ms Hughes said. “The sequins belonged to my grandmothers, who liked to make Christmas ornaments.

“I just sat myself down and stared stitching. It’s kind of a tribute to my grandmothers in a funny kind of way,” said Ms Hughes.

Her second Artful Bra creation one is covered with layers of turquoise paint, then swirls and polka dots of florescent pink, a collection of bright pink feathers on the outer side of each cup, and a silver jeweled ornament in the small center panel between the cups.

“In working on this one,” Ms Hughes said of the turquoise and pink creation, “I returned to layers of paint, just like I was doing in New York 20 years ago. Once again I’ve turned a bra into a canvas.”

Support Staff Needed

While Ms Hughes has already done the first two, and others have begun learning about and signing up for The Artful Bra: Perfect Pairs, a lot of help is still needed to make the event a success.

Ms Rau and her co-chairs need more artists. They would like to have at least 50 bras for October 23–24. They will welcome more if enough people volunteer their time and talent.

Which means more bra artists — “We’re calling them bratistas,” said Mrs Rau — are needed.

“You don’t have to be an artist,” she is quick to point out. “There are so many ways people have used glue guns and duct tape to come up with stunning creations [for past events across the country]. We want people of all ages to feel comfortable doing this.”

“We’re talking about art here,” Ms Hughes added. “The bra just happens to be the canvas.”

Among the guidelines:

*Bratistas are to use a new 38-40C padded bra.

*Bras will need to have an original theme.

*All surfaces must be covered.

*Each bra must be able to hang on a hanger without gimmicks (no electrical cords, for instance), and without being designed or covered in such a way that it will be top heavy and require additional support when hung on a hanger for display.

*Bratistas will be asked to give their bra a name and offer an explanation of their bra’s theme.

*Completed bras are to be delivered to Ms Rau by October 6.

“All themes are welcome,” said Ms Rau. “Let your imagination run wild.”

Individuals, families, and groups of all ages are invited to contact Ms Rau for a full set of guidelines if they would like to participate in The Artful Bra: Newtown United. She can be reached at 203-426-2226, and will provide full Artful Bra guidelines and an application for The Artful Bra: Newtown United upon request.