We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sandra Curitore. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sandra below.

Sandra, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I think my most meaningful project to date has to be my latest acrylic painting series, When Life Gives You Lemons. In December 2018, at 39 years old, I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer… I started treatment right away. The plan was 6 rounds of chemo; double mastectomy; 30 rounds of radiation; and reconstruction surgery (expanders to silicone implants); followed by hormone therapy for up to 10 years.

It was a long tough battle, but on August 30, 2019, I rang the victory bell to celebrate the ending of my treatments. Today I’m 4 years cancer-free, still taking hormone therapy, and grateful to be alive.

I’m an optimist at heart, and truly believe “realistic positivity” helped me get through the many stages of treatment (don’t get me wrong, I had my down moments). Now in survivorship, I’ve had the time to process what my body went through, and fully embrace all of the emotions that I suppressed during my fight stage. This lemon series (14 paintings so far) is my visual journal through the different stages of my cancer story, and my attempts to continually “make lemonade”. The series is ongoing as I continue to live through survivorship, and the whole new set of emotions that come along with that.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a Korean-American Artist, Wife, Mother and Breast Cancer Survivor living in Los Angeles. An Alum of Otis College of Art & Design, I majored in Communication Arts/Graphic Design, with a professional career spanning 20+ years in the Beauty Industry. I’m experienced in branding, logo design, packaging, social media, digital, and art direction for photo & video shoots. I’ve worked for established brands as well as small start-ups, so I’m used to wearing multiple hats, and finding creative solutions on any budget.

In December 2018, at the height of my career as a Creative Director, I received the news I had stage 3 breast cancer. The diagnosis: invasive lobular carcinoma with lymph node involvement; ER/PR positive, HER2 negative; genetically testing positive for the BRCA2 mutation… A big ol’ lemon!!! But much like an eleventh hour rush project that needs to go out ASAP, I knew this was just something I needed to get through.

It wasn’t until I asked my husband, Tom, to shave my head, and my son, Owen (who was 6 at the time), to take the photos that I really allowed myself to get emotional. “Am I really going through this?!?!?!” It was also a strangely empowering moment, because from the start I knew I had the support of my family (they both shaved their heads too) and that I wasn’t gonna let Cancer dictate things like when I lose my hair!!

I continued working throughout my treatments, including jumping on planes to travel to tradeshows days out from Chemo, and getting compliments from beauty influencer partners on the cut and color of my hair, not realizing it was a wig, and I was sweating my butt off underneath it… For the most part, it was business as usual, aside from the sick days, the drainage tubes, the early onset menopause… Fast forward, Covid happens, and I received the news of lay-off from my job. It caught me by surprise, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as receiving the news of my cancer diagnosis (I felt oddly prepared). With my newfound perspective on life, I decided to pivot and use the opportunity to dive into what really matters to me. I switched my focus from working a 9-5 job, to focusing on what brings me joy, which was my art, and living life… I am forever grateful for my family, and communities for always having my back, and I am looking forward to my next chapter!

Transitioning from Graphic Designer to Fine Artist isn’t uncommon, but was uncharted territory for me. I found myself stumped at first and a bit overwhelmed because I didn’t know where to begin. As a child I remember drawing and coloring rainbows religiously, so my instincts were guiding me to oil pastels. They glide on paper similarly to crayons, but with way better color payoff! I googled Henri Matisse and chose The Goldfish to mimic. The bright colors, textures and nature patterns filling up the background from top to bottom spoke to me. Without hesitation I started. I continued using oil pastels, and testing mediums, eventually transitioning to acrylic paints. I dedicated a full year to drawing and painting plants, flowers, insects, and a few commissioned dog portraits. During this time I realized, as an artist (much like as a brand), self promotion was a must. I needed more visibility because I AM the brand. That’s when the design hat went on. I created a logo, built a website and started generating social content of my artwork, my process, highlights in my life with family, and breast cancer awareness.

This series, When Life Gives You Lemons, is my breast cancer story. It’s a visual journal of my experiences and recollections of what I felt during treatment and how I navigate today through survivorship. Each piece is painted in acrylics on a 10”x10” canvas, and represent a specific event, thought, or feeling.

The reason for this series… All through treatment, I focused on following the game plan the oncology team mapped out for me. My only goal was to fight and get through treatment/surgeries with as smooth a recovery as possible. There were so many appointments and moments of confusion that I didn’t have the bandwidth to process what I was going through. One day while on our daily 10am walk with our dogs, the idea of painting lemons came top of mind and it was without question that’s what led me to the well known proverbial phrase “When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade” This pretty much nails my outlook on life… My cup is (majority of the time) “half-full”.

Beyond the Lemonade storyline, my inspirations come from the beauty of nature, those everyday life interactions, my family, and the love and support of my many different communities (Breast Cancer / Art / Church). I feel this idea of “Community” is paramount to being an artist, a cancer survivor, a parent… a human.

These last few years have been to focus on myself, my legacy, and how I’ve been given Another Shot (name of one of the paintings in the series). I’m reminded to reflect, to embrace each stage of my life, and give grace to my body. To challenge and stretch to do things out of my comfort zone, and to grow and keep learning; moving forward, knowing there may be yet another chapter still to come, and I will be ready.

Also, I may now have a slight obsession (like Valerie Bertinelli) with anything lemon! Flavor, fruit shape, and the color yellow in general… I’ve peeled, cut and photographed sooo many lemons, and in every way possible… My 44th birthday cake was lemon cake!

My mission is to continue to share my Breast Cancer story in a visual way, in hopes it could relate to someone who may be going through the same, and bring them hope. It’s also to bring awareness about the disease and educate others that even though someone may be deemed “cancer-free”, it’s not back to normal. Our lives are forever changed. We learn to live with our “new normal”, deal with or find treatment for the side effects from Chemo, radiation, neuropathy, lymphedema…and many of us are still on hormone therapy to prevent the cancer from returning, but life goes on. What direction it goes is up to you… I chose Lemonade!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The main goal is to share my breast cancer story through my paintings, along with self healing, I hope my paintings and my experiences could relate to someone else going through something similar. Let them know they aren’t alone and to make sure to find a community that will listen, cry and uplift with them as they go through this season of their life.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

On my last day of treatment all I could think about was ringing the victory bell. I could taste the finish-line, my appointments were always scheduled early morning because I would head into work afterwards. I recollect walking through each routine with “this is my last time”… checking in with the front desk, retrieving my hospital gown from the cabinet, changing into my gown, locking up my personal belongings and then waiting for my name to be called. In the past, in the waiting room I witnessed other patients ring the bell and I would genuinely be elated for them because this memorable moment for them gave me hope that it’s possible to finish.

As I walked out of the radiation room a man, also a cancer patient, who I frequently saw on my appointments stopped me and said, “I just wanted to congratulate you and say thank you!” And this took me by surprise because I never spoke to him before, but he shared that whenever he saw me, I always had a smile on my face and that it inspired him to stay positive and hopeful. Who knew my smile could outwardly portray my hope. I was going through one of the hardest things of my life, yet I had HOPE.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.xoscuritore.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scuritore/

Image Credits
Rose Eichenbaum
Herman Kim