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Woman’s shattered-glass works reflect living with MS
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
Unusual patterns are highlighted as light from a window flows through a finished window pane that Dru Marchese of Poland decorated with shards of mirror glass. Marchese, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998, will display her work Saturday as part of an MS Awareness Month art show and auction in Akron.
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
Dru Marchese carefully places one of the broken mirror pieces onto a window pane.
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
Breaking perfectly good mirrors into pieces with a claw hammer, Dru Marchese creates shards for the glass jigsaw puzzle she glues onto window panes.
Woman’s shattered-glass works reflect living with MS
POLAND
Shattered, but not broken. That is what Dru Marchese wants people to understand about people with multiple sclerosis through her art. Marchese painstakingly places broken mirror pieces on the panes of a restored window.
The creation is symbolic of how she feels about having MS.
“We are damaged, but we are complete,” says a line in her poem titled “We Are MS.”
Examples of her shattered- mirror art will be on display and for sale, along with works of other artists, Saturday at an art exhibit and auction at Akrona Galleries, 1765 W. Market St., Akron.
March 2011 marks the fifth anniversary for Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month in Ohio, said Guyla Wehman, spokeswoman for MS Society’s Ohio Buckeye Chapter, which represents 38 counties, including Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull.
The Buckeye Chapter is hosting a variety of events this month, including the art exhibit and auction titled “Expression: Colors of Spring.” Pieces range from paintings to sculptures to jewelry. Artists are able to showcase their work throughout the month at Akrona.
The reception and art auction Saturday is from 5 to 8 p.m. with the auction beginning at 7 p.m. Beverages and hors d’oeuvres will be served. Tickets are $10 and can can be purchased at the door.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, unpredictable disease of the central nervous system. It is thought to be an autoimmune disorder, meaning the immune system incorrectly attacks the person’s healthy tissue, according to the National MS Society.
MS can cause blurred vision, loss of balance, poor coordination, slurred speech, tremors, numbness, extreme fatigue, problems with memory and concentration, paralysis, and blindness and more, according to the society.
Most people are diagnosed with MS between 20 and 50. Marchese, 56, of Poland, was 43 when her vision blurred while she was helping her son Cameron deliver his Vindicator route.
She thought it was a sinus infection but went to her doctor who said there was a “2 percent chance” it was MS. After an MRI confirmed that diagnosis on April 29, 1998, Marchese said she asked, “Why me?” Then, she said, a voice in her head said, “Why not me?”
And that became her mantra.
“My message to people diagnosed with MS or any disease is to have a positive attitude. Kind of suck it up; it could be worse,” she said.
Marchese’s shattered-glass art is not high-tech.
It is basically a jigsaw puzzle with glass shards that she gets by placing a mirror in a paper animal-feed bag and breaking the mirror with a claw hammer.
The pieces, except for a few larger ones, are dumped together and the search begins, but without a picture or colors to help.
“When I see a piece that fits, it’s a great feeling. When I’m on a roll, I can do one pane in a day,” she said.
Working to Sugarland’s “Gold and Green” CD, she finishes her creation by gluing the shards in place on the glass panes.
Marchese, a daughter of Jean and Bud Dearing of Poland, said her inspiration for her glass work, called MS Art, came from her good friends, Alan and Sue Eich. They gave her a stressed glass vase, saying it reminded them of her because she is “shattered but not broken.”
A 1972 graduate of Poland Seminary High School, from where her husband, Fred, graduated in 1973, she has two sisters, Valerie Dearing and Julie Simington, both of Poland; three sons, Cameron of Pittsburgh, Benjamin of Poland and Jordan of Boardman, and a grandson, Dominic.
She is bookkeeper for the family businesses — Marchese and Co. and Absolute Kitchen and Bath Design, which Benjamin runs — and the Poland Cemetery Association.
Marchese began displaying and selling her art in 2007. To order a piece of MS Art, call Marchese at 330-727-2118.
She said the first 10 percent of the proceeds go to God, and the second 10 percent to various MS organizations.
Marchese said she hopes her shattered-glass art will help people understand people with MS and other diseases.
“If they don’t ‘get it’ just by seeing it, they do when they read the poem,” she said.