Delicate fabrics and soft lighting stand in stark contrast to the sterile file cabinets filled with doctors' notes and health insurance forms in visual artist Susan Stanton's workspace — the place where her craft merges with a healing practice for breast cancer patients.
While pursing her art degree at Penn State Abington, Stanton works at a boutique that sells lingerie and prostheses for women in various stages of cancer treatment and recovery. She found herself drawn to the clients who came to Jay Ann Intimates for breast form fittings.
"The loss of a body part can be traumatic and life altering, but it is not their identity and does not define them,” she said.
Stanton found mentors in the shop's mastectomy fitters and enrolled in industry-mandated classes. She even traveled to Detroit to study body and chest wall casting, which aids in the creation of custom breast forms, before earning her mastectomy fitter certification in 2013.