Finding Art in the Margins: How One Nurse’s Cancer Journey Unleashed a Hidden creativity
Cancer can disrupt life in profound ways, but for one New York nurse, it also created space for a long-dormant passion to bloom. For 20 years, Heather Bucalos dedicated her career to healthcare, specializing in high-risk obstetrics, student health, and orthopedics.However, after 11 years navigating her own cancer journey, she discovered a new calling: visual art.
Bucalos, a Sidney, NY native, describes herself as an “out-of-the-box creative thinker†who always enjoyed art class as a child. But it wasn’t until facing the challenges of cancer that she found the time to fully explore her artistic side. “Cancer gave me the time to let the artist emerge,†she explained. Photography was her initial foray,pursued during the brief moments between shifts as a full-time nurse.But when medical leave provided more extended periods of “time in between,†she began experimenting with a wider range of mediums.
“I think when you’re a cancer survivor, you learn how to go with the flow and to appreciate the ‘time in between,’ in between appointments, in between treatments,†Bucalos shared. This philosophy extends beyond her health journey, influencing her outlook on life itself. “What do you do with the time in between anything?†she pondered. “Sometimes a new self emerges in the in-between time, and I think for me the artist was born from that.â€
The Healing Power of Art Programs
Bucalos emphasizes the importance of the resources available at Roswell park Comprehensive Cancer Center, particularly the Healing Arts Gallery on the first floor, the Creative Arts Team, and their Patient Art Cart and workshops in the Small Studio. These programs played a pivotal role in her artistic awakening.
Her cancer journey began over a decade ago with a diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, followed by successful chemotherapy treatment and remission.regrettably, the lymphoma relapsed in 2019, leading her back to Roswell Park for a stem cell transplant. After undergoing pre-readiness chemotherapy in October and November of that year — and contracting coronavirus during the 2019 Christmas holidays — the transplant was scheduled for January 23, 2020. Bucalos remained hospitalized until February 2020, a period she describes as filled with meaningful “time in between.â€
it was during this pre-transplant period that she first encountered the Creative Arts Team. A member was offering painted rocks with inspiring messages in a clinic waiting area.“The woman talked about the painted rocks and about her art residency, and it was engaging as during the pandemic everybody was painting rocks. I got into painting rocks around that time too,†she recalled. Bucalos’s approach is unique: “I find a rock that looks like something and then I paint what I think the shape looks like.†She has created rocks resembling a chameleon and a striking rendition of Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with the Pearl Earring.â€
During her stem cell transplant recovery, bucalos frequented the Small Studio within the Art Heals Gallery. There, she was encouraged to embrace a more freeform approach to art.“It was healing for me just to feel the texture of the paint with no rules,†she remembered. “I painted before the transplant, but I was very rigid with my ideas. I was painting a lot of triangles and pointy edges. Now I’m doing a lot of soft, flowy edges.â€
Sculpting a New Artistic Vision
This shift in style reflects bucalos’s broader philosophy of embracing the “time in between.†beyond rock painting and photography, she has created a series of vibrant “smile blobs†on canvas, adorned with googly eyes and inspirational tags. These pieces have resonated with members of her Roswell Park survivorship group, attendees of the elephants and Tea Cancer Camp, and members of the Hope Club at the American Cancer Society in albany, New York.
Bucalos credits a change in perspective for her artistic evolution. “I used to get very upset, you know, thinking things should be that way or this way, until I realized maybe the universe is trying to work with me instead of against me, and maybe I can go with the flow a little bit more. Maybe it’s a little better that way,†she said, recalling how she now colors stickers during long clinic waits instead of becoming frustrated.
She attributes much of her growth to the Roswell Park Creative Arts Team’s artists-in-residence.“It’s a great program. They’re very patient with the patients, and you learn a lot of things about yourself and about art. When you learn new things in a new environment that’s not a pressurized environment, it’s very healing,†she explained, adding that creativity supports neuroplasticity and can aid in healing trauma.
Bucalos’s message is simple yet powerful: “I want peopel to know that it’s OK to try new things like art. You never know what kind of artist is hiding inside of you.â€
Roswell Park offers a wide range of support services,from art therapy to physical and mental health resources,for patients navigating challenging times. Learn more about available resources here.
