When a person is living with cancer, struggling through invasive treatments, managing symptoms and side effects, and facing an uncertain future, art can be magical. Drawing, printmaking, painting and sculpting are transformative escapes.

For an hour or two, a person who has cancer can forget she is sick and express herself as the dynamic individual she is rather than the cancer patient she is forced to be. This gift is precious beyond words. Now Maud Morgan Arts has the opportunity to offer this gift through “Surviving and Thriving,” a series of free workshops for cancer patients and survivors—but only if the community shows its support.

If Maud Morgan Arts receives the most online votes for its region, the LiveStrong Foundation will award the center a grant to run these workshops through LiveStrong’s Community Impact Project Artist-in-Residence Program. Award-winning artist, teacher and cancer survivor Randy Garber will serve as the workshop’s facilitator. Much of Garber’s artwork has been motivated by her own experience with cancer: in a hospital pathology lab, she worked side by side with a cytologist examining biological material under microscopes, and while the cytologist identified rogue cells to be used for further diagnosis, Garber sketched the cells for future paintings. Garber is also a recipient of a “Cappelli d’Angeli” grant for artists who have had cancer.

Community members may vote for Maud Morgan Arts and “Surviving and Thriving” by visiting www.vote.livestrong.org/regions/7/161-Maud-Morgan-Arts between March 12 and March 28. Voting closes on March 28 at 5 pm CST.

Since 1997, LiveStrong has provided support to guide people through the cancer experience, bring them together to fight cancer, and work for a world in which our fight is no longer necessary.