Name
Eugenie Hsu

Age Group (If you are a caregiver/family member please check Caregiver/Family Member)
Caregiver/Family Member

Category
Drawing/Painting/Printmaking/Chalk Art

Artist Statement (include type of art, techniques & materials used, what it means to you)
This oil on canvas (18"x18") painting is the companion piece to my other painting submission (entitled "Forbidden Fruit"). Unlike the sugary blueberry pie of Forbidden Fruit, Friendly Fruit depicts the version of a blueberry dessert that is acceptable for a healthy hypothalamic obesity lifestyle.

Our society tends to overlook fresh fruits and consider them as less special than the sweetened treats represented by cookies, cakes and candies. In this display of larger-than-life fresh fruit (the average berry measures 7 inches wide on the canvas), the berries pose as "eye candy", hoping to be chosen as dessert over the other sugary desserts.

Bio (include your age, tumor type and date of diagnosis)
I am a caregiver to my son who was diagnosed and treated for a craniopharyngioma when he was 8 years old. He is now 20. Along with all of the usual conditions left in the wake of this brain tumor. we have had to struggle with the very challenging condition of hypothalamic obesity with hyperphagia.

I have been drawing for a little over a year and have been painting for 7 months. Using my creativity through visual arts and music are very enjoyable and therapeutic for me. When I'm not lost in an art project, I am happily serving as the chair of the Raymond A. Wood Foundation.