Myra Eastman: Pancreatic Cancer

January 6 - March 27 in Gallery Commonweal

Reception: Saturday, February 15 | 3:00-5:00 pm

It is a great honor to exhibit this series of paintings at Gallery Commonweal. Commonweal is where the idea for this series began. I had the good fortune to attend the April 2023 Commonweal Cancer Help Retreat eight months after successful surgery for pancreatic cancer. I had come to the retreat because I knew my body was healing but my mind was stuck. I was ecstatic that I had (so far) survived this deadly, sneaky disease and after surgery I was determined to reclaim my pre-cancer life fast. But something was wrong. I was haunted by what had happened to me—everything that happens when you have cancer. It was Michael Lerner, during my one-on-one therapy session, who put a name to my distress. He said I had PTSD. His advice? As a narrative painter, I needed to paint what having pancreatic cancer felt like.

Honestly, I didn’t do it—not right away. I was still trying to move on, finish projects I had started before my cancer diagnosis. I did not want to dwell on being sick. I resisted giving cancer any more oxygen. Enough!

But Michael was right. Anything that reminded me of being sick still caused anxiety, and the flashbacks were continuing.  So I began this new series of paintings. These are paintings I see in my head before I start-they are painting themselves. They make me cry. They make me remember. They communicate how it feels. They are healing me. And hopefully they can help others, too. Without Commonweal I couldn’t have done this work. I am forever grateful.

Myra Eastman

‍Myra Eastman is a narrative painter whose work explores personal, social, and political themes. She worked as an arts educator in the Santa Cruz public schools before retiring and now works full-time in her studio. She is the 2019 recipient of the Santa Cruz County Rydell Fellowship. Her one/two person invitational exhibition venues include: the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, Museum Eduardo Carrillo, Monterey Peninsula College, and Gearbox Gallery. She was invited to the Santo Foundation’s 2019 10th Anniversary Invitational Exhibition held at Webster University in Saint Luis, MO. She has work in the Catamaran Literary Reader, Crocker Kingsley, American Art Collector and Studio Visit. Her paintings have recently been purchased by the Contra Costa Medical Center to be a part of their “Resilience Project” permanent collection.

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