 The Hillstrom Museum of Art has organized two cancer-themed exhibits that coincide with the 2020 Nobel Conference of Gustavus Adolphus College, Cancer in the Age of Biotechnology. The larger, juried exhibit, Cancer Never Had Me, includes 45 works by 33 different artists who have been affected directly or indirectly by cancer. She's not here, she died, is how the artist of this work responded when someone on the phone asked for her recently deceased mother, who died of cancer years ago when the artist was 17. Exhibition juror Gregory Jackman, a retired curator from the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., selected the exhibit's works and awarded first through fourth prizes, also naming four honorable mentions. First prize, The Artist and the Surgeon, is a handmade accordion book with photos. The artist notes that after breast cancer surgery, she and her caregiver devised a daily ritual of documenting the marks on her body from the surgery, as well as changes to cut flowers she had in a vase. Clean margin biopsy was the term used to indicate that this artist's prostate cancer was confined to that gland and had not spread, news that made him cry. The process of creating the small drawings combined to form this work, one for each of the 238 days from diagnosis through treatment, was therapeutic for this artist and allowed her to quell the chaos she experienced throughout the ordeal. Several works in Cancer Never Had Me deal with breast cancer, including those awarded the second and third prizes. An imaginative rendering in fabric, beads, and thread of a mammogram references the detection and treatment of cancer in this artist's mother nearly three decades ago. Altered Suns suggests through its intense colors, the harshness of a desert, and the artist parallels survival of such an unrelenting environment with survival of the hardships of her invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer. A more Eden-like scene is found in a watercolor memorializing this artist's athlete brother, who regularly wore sunscreen during his runs but forgot to cover the small space of skin on the back of his neck just below the hairline, leading to the cancer that took his life. Fourth Prize is a mixed media work that relates to this artist's mother's cancer, referencing her Swedish roots through typical blue and yellow colors, and also her Native American heritage through characteristic forms of beadwork and stitching. The last time this artist saw her dear friend, Joanne did not want photos taken of her, but she agreed to have her hands captured, showing off the manicure she had continued to have no matter how ill she became. When young, this artist would sometimes use a Sharpie marker to connect her moles, later learning that she has familial atypical multiple mole melanoma syndrome. Two of the honorable mentions in Cancer Never Had Me referenced gold, including this one that uses imitation gold leaf, to symbolize the purifying effect of clean, new cells taking over after this artist's prostate cancer was cured more than 30 years ago. The Woman with the Golden Blood refers to this artist's mother, who early in her diagnosis of chronic myeloid leukemia, considered forgoing treatment out of concern that insurance would not cover the $70,000 to $100,000 per year for a life-saving drug. Setting the hook depicts seven different fishing lures, each labeled with a type of cancer believed to be caused by exposure to Agent Orange. The bottom one, glioblastoma, led to the death of the artist's fisherman father, as well as that of late Senator John McCain, both men Vietnam vets. It's one of three things, and all of them are terrible, is what was told the artist of another honorable mention, by the attending physician when first looking at her CT scan before a specific diagnosis of lymphoma was determined. One more honorable mention is a triptych that uses strong colors and surreal imagery to relate to this artist's experience with breast cancer. The work also includes torn pieces of paper on which she had typed her feelings about her struggle with the disease. Also dealing with breast cancer is a work in which the artist associates the high-pitched buzzing heard during her radiation treatment with the sounds of cicadas, noting that just as the insects discard their useless shells and transform into creatures capable of flight, so did she change from a person with breast cancer to one without. This artist, after being diagnosed with small cell lung cancer, created a body of multiple works providing perspectives on the disease, including this large-scale self-portrait taken after a radiation treatment. A positive message depicted through semi-obstract images of colorful cells is what the artist of no cause to mourn wants to convey, related to her father's stage 4 bladder cancer, about which he never complains. The second cancer-themed exhibit at the Hillstrom Museum of Art, Artists Who Had Cancer, includes 32 works by 16 American artists, all of who succumbed to the disease. The works, mostly dating from the first half of the 20th century, are from the museum's collection, or generously lent, from the collection of Daniel Shogren and Susan Meyer. For the artists whose type of cancer is known, exhibition texts discuss their careers and, in some cases, the impact the disease had on their lives and work. In addition, Laura Burak, co-chairperson of the Nobel Conference on Cancer, has written about the cancer treatments available in the lifetime of the artists, comparing that with what's possible today. Prominent painter Robert Henry and famed photographer Gordon Parks both had prostate cancer. Henry remained active as an artist into his 63rd year. He complained about pain in his left hip and was never told by his doctors or his wife Marjorie that the cause was cancer that had spread to his pelvis and lower spine. Surgical and radiation treatments for prostate cancer were still in early stages of development in the first part of the 20th century, and at that time there was no treatment if the cancer had spread. When Gordon Parks died in 2006, not only had surgery and radiation been improved, but also drugs that prevent tumor growth were available and today expanded treatment for prostate cancer includes a vaccine and a drug called Enzalutamide that was co-invented by one of the Nobel Conference speakers, Dr. Charles Sawyers. When famed regionalist Grant Wood died a couple hours short of his 51st birthday from pancreatic cancer, he knew it was coming. He had entered the hospital after months of not feeling well and agreed to have exploratory surgery as long as the doctors promised to tell him whatever they found. His sister Nan, famed as the model for the Dour female figure in Wood's iconic painting American Gothic, told her brother's assistant that Wood should not be told about his cancer. But he disagreed saying Grant is a man and a brave one and he's entitled to know what ails him. Wood remained hospitalized for around two months and had hopes unfulfilled to be able to paint while there. He did, however, sign the examples of his last lithograph, Family Doctor, from Sickbed. At the time of Wood's death, surgery was the only treatment for cancer of the pancreas, but it wasn't an option if the disease had spread. And while there are today many more treatment possibilities, the five-year survival rate is still only 9%, partly because the cancer is often undetected until it has spread. The universality of cancer's impact on all people is a central message in the two exhibits related to cancer at the Hillstrom Museum of Art. Electronic versions of the catalogs for both Cancer Never Had Me and Artists Who Had Cancer are available on the museum's webpage at www.gistavis.edu forward slash hillstrom.