When MCCC student Kendall Garman was given an art class assignment to paint five objects related to her life, she said the choice was obvious. She chose to paint items related to her experience with cancer.
“I love the feeling of creating your own work and having people see from it who you are,” Kendall said. “The way you do art can express who you are.”
Kendall was diagnosed with cancer at 4 1/2 years old, she said. At the age of 21, Kendall is a 17 1/2 year cancer survivor.
The yellow shirt in the painting is from her last year at Camp Catch-A-Rainbow, a camp for children who survived cancer, Kendall said.
Her experience with Relay for Life, a fundraising event for the American Cancer Society, is represented by the purple shirt. Because her first Relay for Life team was called “Kendall’s Care Bears,” she also included a Care Bear toy in the painting.
Kendall included the crown in the piece because she was awarded it when she was deemed the “Arts and Crafts Queen” at Camp Catch-A-Rainbow.
“I added the Tiger’s hat because I’m such a big Tiger’s fan,” Kendall said, smiling.
Kendall has also started a series of paintings depicting landscapes from places she’s visited.
“I love geography, and even if people can’t go to the different national parks, I want them to be aware of the beauty,” Kendall said.
Kendall said she’s the most excited to paint Old Faithful, a geyser at Yellowstone National Park. She’s waiting to paint the geyser until she learns the technique of portraying water in motion.
Kendall said has been painting since seventh grade, but has just started to take it seriously. She describes herself as a growing artist.
Baking is also a primary interest of Kendall’s. She said she started baking when her church asked for
volunteers to make desserts for an event.
“It was a lemon butter tart,” Kendall said.
Her neighbor gave her a recipe book, with which Kendall continued to hone her baking skills. She soon discovered she enjoyed baking cupcakes.
She started out by following the recipes in the book, but then she began to experiment with modifying them.
For example, she modified a recipe for rainbow cupcakes to be what she named ‘surprise cupcakes’.
“Instead of making a rainbow cupcake, I used three or four colors and put them in a random order, so you wouldn’t know what you’re going to get,” Kendall said. “That’s why I call it a surprise.”
She also adds different flavor elements, like chocolate chips or cherries.
With the help of her boyfriend, Kendall plans to start a specialty cupcake business, which she would call Cupcake Art.
“The cupcakes literally are art,” Kendall said. “That is my definition of art: something that you make your own and that you came up with on your own. It can be whatever you want it to be.”
To see the menu of cupcakes Kendall makes and to order your own, send her an email at kgg0384@outlook.com.
