Colorful bras pose uplifting fundraiser
The Sandpoint High School art club created about 20 “artrageous bras,” which are on display at Zany Zebra for $50 each to raise money for breast cancer research. Pictured below some of the colorful contraptions are, from left, SHS art teacher and club advisor Heather Guthrie, and SHS students and artists Isabelle England, Mason White, Sarah Bourn and Ellie McCray. Artists not pictured include SHS students Sarah Brown, Gabi Burns, McCalee Cain, Ember Dewey, Chloe Edwards, Haley Ledford, Kelda Rial, Sharon Rowe, Sloan Woodward and Skyra Schendel. (Photo by MARY MALONE)
SANDPOINT — Feathers, beads, faux flowers, jewelry, coffee cup handles — all kinds of fun objects were used by students in the Sandpoint High School Art Club to decorate their "artrageous bras" in an effort to raise money for breast cancer research.
"It was fun to see them all come together, said Heather Guthrie, SHS art teacher and art club advisor, in reference to the bras.
The bras are now on display at Zany Zebra and can be purchased for $50 each. The 14 young artists created about 20 of the colorful contraptions. Guthrie said she came up with the idea after visiting her father at a cancer hospital in Brunswick, Ga.
"I was just wandering around while he was getting a radiation treatment, and in the hall of the women's breast cancer wing were bras just like this, in picture frames just like this" Guthrie said, pointing to her students' creations.
SHS students and art club members Mason White, Isabelle England, Sarah Bourn and Ellie McCray agreed the project was "a lot of fun."
"It was kind of fun to have the creativity of adding different doo-dads, because we had a box of stuff," White said, emphasizing "stuff" to indicate just how much stuff they had to work with. "It was fun to pair things together — what looks good with what? ..."
Guthrie is also the advisor for the SHS fly fishing club, so she had easy access to some feathers, and a lot of the jewelry was given to her when Coldwater Creek closed a few years ago.
McCray said she did not attend art club very often, although she is one of Guthrie's art students. But when she found out about the bra project, she knew she had to be a part of it.
"Someone posted a picture of (the bras), and I was like, 'I want to do one of those,'" McCray said. "So I did a couple of them and it was so much fun."
The project was done in collaboration with the SHS GEM club as well. GEM stands for Gender Equality Mission, and Bourn said the club was started this year by her best friend McCalee Cain. The mission of the GEM club is to spread awareness regarding existing gender inequalities, and to equip students with the tools and knowledge to challenge those inequalities.
"It's basically a feminist club and we discuss different intersectional feminist stuff," Bourn said.
In the art club, Guthrie looks for projects that would not be created in a traditional art class, and the bra project set perfectly into that category. Guthrie said she enjoyed the project because it helps get the students involved in the community, and because it was a collaborative effort between the clubs and the Pend Oreille Arts Council as well. Carol Deaner, POAC president, worked with Guthrie on the logistics of putting together the exhibit.
"I just think they are magnificent ... this project is phenomenal," Deaner complimented the group when she stopped by Zany Zebra to check out the exhibit Friday.
There is no commission on the sales, so all of the money will go to a to-be-determined organization for breast cancer research. Guthrie plans to find a local organization as a recipient.
Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.