Get to Know Our 2020 Breast Cancer Awareness Mural Artists

This year during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it was important to us that in addition to donating money and providing support to the breast cancer community, we also gave its members a platform to express themselves. Enter Marnie Vollenhals and Melanie Penn! We asked these two women to create art for our Austin Flagship and New York stores that shared their experiences and the experiences of their community. Learn more about them below:

Meet Marnie

Marnie is a breast cancer survivor, as well as the artist for our Austin Flagship’s mural live from October 1-31. A career artist and illustrator with a simple, cool aesthetic, Marnie is known for her sky murals seen around the world and has a long list of celebrity clients.

Can you share your connection to breast cancer?

I was officially diagnosed by my oncologist on October 17, 2016, after two weeks prior going in for my yearly mammogram. The type I had was Stage 2 Triple Negative, which is an aggressive form. Triple Negative Breast Cancer means that the cancer cells don’t have estrogen or progesterone receptors, and that it also doesn’t produce much of the protein called HER2. The cells test negative on all three tests, basically. It spreads quickly, has limited treatment options, and can have a not-so-good outcome unless treated quickly. It can also return later in a different part of my body. I can’t say enough about my doctors and the team I had – an oncologist, an oncologist assistant, a breast surgeon, a plastic surgeon, a radiologist, and countless nurses. You don’t realize how many people are involved during your process and the work they put into you. I went through 22 chemo treatments, had a double mastectomy with expanders put in, and then had three full weeks of radiation – I lost my hair and all. My pathology report came back completely clear of cancer after surgery, so the chemo was a success. One year later after my mastectomy, I had a final surgery to take out the expanders and replaced them with implants.

Looking back now, my doctors still tell me they are unsure how I got this. I went through genetic testing and all my percentages were low. I also tested negative for any form of gene. This just shows you how crazy breast cancer is. They don’t know where it came from and my kids are at a very low risk as well. When I was young, my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer. At that time, they took her breasts from her. She is no longer with us and I couldn’t find out any info about her journey. So not knowing her type, stage, and her journey, my doctors told me that her cancer could possibly have nothing to do with mine. In many cases, breast cancer is not passed down.

What is the inspiration behind your art?

Everyone going through cancer has support one way or another, whether it be family, friends, doctors, or strangers that are sitting with you during chemo. I used to think of them all as my team. I also loved to feel normal by putting on a wig – or sometimes I wouldn't wear a wig! – and putting makeup on to go out with my girlfriends to dinner and such. I wanted this mural to reflect both of those things. It's all about support.

How do you stand up to breast cancer?

For me, standing up to breast cancer is showing support to everyone related it. I donate when I can and I help others now if they have questions about what to expect. I think about cancer every day, and my blood is checked every three months to make sure it hasn't returned. I really work hard to stay healthy, exercise, and stay positive. 

Meet Melanie

Melanie is a breast cancer previvor and relentless advocate, as well as the artist for our New York store’s window art live on October 13 in honor of our annual Holley Day, named in memory of Kendra’s dear friend Holley Rothell Kitchen. Similar to Holley, Melanie’s friend Emily Garnett died from Metastatic Breast Cancer. And Melanie, similar to Kendra, is working hard to honor her friend’s life by creating a quilt of her artwork that will raise money for Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Can you share your connection to breast cancer?

Cancer entered my life when I was four years old and my mother was diagnosed. Some years later, in the mid 90's, my mom received results from the gene trial she was in, which told her she was BRCA1+ and had a 50/50 chance of having passed this mutation on to her children. (My mother is still alive, and is now an almost 29 year survivor!) At age 25, I underwent genetic testing to determine whether or not I also carry this mutation, and turns out I do. This mutation meant that I had an 87% risk of getting breast cancer in my lifetime. I underwent 5.5 years of surveillance, scares, biopsies, and pushback about having surgery from everyone around me, until I changed doctors at 30 and was finally ready, and with the right care team, to move forward with preventative surgery. I am now two years out from my prophylactic bilateral mastectomy. 

What is the inspiration behind your art?

A little over two years ago, I wanted to do something to thank the numerous women who had helped me prepare mentally for my surgery. I started creating portraits using the outlines of these women's forms filled with words they chose for themselves to describe their life experiences both related and not related to cancer. Using outline forms that showcase scars and missing or altered breasts, the works serve to show what we have been through personally, while the words help to unite all those who see them through common ground. For this specific drawing it was important to me to showcase scar types from a variety of different surgeries that are common within the breast cancer community. The words on this mural were sourced directly from the community. I posted a question box [on Instagram] asking women to describe their experience with being a previvor, thriver, or survivor, and tried to mix the good with the bad, the brutal hardship and the uplifting moments as the answers came in. The figures are huddled together, showing how important it can be for members of the breast cancer community to lean into and on one another throughout these experiences.

How do you stand up to breast cancer?

The biggest way I have stood up to breast cancer in my personal life has been by arming myself with all the knowledge modern medicine has afforded and undergoing surgery. The surgery I had reduced my lifetime risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer from 87% to around 5%. Outside of my own body, I support organizations that fund research for Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer and are actively working to find an actual cure. I continue to share my story, as well as other women's stories, through my Instagram so that other women can find them and connect through the common ground that none of us asked for (worst club with the best people). I think finding ways to remove the stigma and make it clear how common breast cancer truly is, and what it REALLY looks like, is crucial to people understanding and focusing their donation money into actual research. I think the more honesty we share, the more we dispel the belief that "breast cancer is the easy/good cancer", the more critical finding a cure will become to those who have not been personally affected. 

Can you tell us about your friend, Emily?

Emily and I were not in one another's lives for that long, unfortunately, but become very close very quickly. We started talking online in 2019 before her walk in the NYFW show for AnaOno and Metavivor. I was doing body painting for the show, putting words all over the bodies of two models to tell their stories, and had started interacting with the women in the show on Instagram. Em and I hit it off it immediately, sharing a mischievous sense of humor and a desire to present women's realities within cancer in a different, impactful way. Of course, both of us were also driven to help fund and find a cure. Through her podcasts, plays she helped produce, incredible writing, nonprofit work, and general cheering on of the community, she was nothing short of an astoundingly powerful force. After months of chatting online the night we finally met we literally ran at one another arms open screaming, “OMG, OMG, YES!”

Emily was one of my earlier word woman portraits and ultimately ended up being my muse for several other pieces of art as well. The last drawing I did of her featured words from a keynote speech she gave in late 2019. Emily was constantly pushing me forward, never letting me stop working and always texting me with new ideas. Emily taught me so much about how to be a better advocate for this community. She never stopped to think about whether or not someone had preventative procedures were in the middle of diagnosis and treatment, or living with a metastatic diagnosis. She just wanted the voices to be as loud as possible with as many people driving towards a cure as possible. 