The Komen Foundation pairs artists with breast cancer survivors for an exhibit that opens Friday.

Jan Ingham looked at an oversized paper pinafore hanging from the ceiling of the East High School art room. “Oh, that is cool,” she said appreciatively, seeing for the first time how her story of survival had been translated into art.

“After the Storm” is a collaborative piece, executed by artist and teacher Brenda Jones and based on Ingham’s experiences with breast cancer.

It’s one of eight pieces of art commissioned by the Mid-Kansas Chapter of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Each piece paired an artist with a breast cancer survivor.

The art, along with 15 or 20 additional pieces in honor or in memory of someone with breast cancer, will go on display Friday at CityArts, 334 N. Mead. The Art for the Cure exhibit will be on display through Sept. 30, the day of the annual Race for the Cure.

“After the Storm” is filled with colors of the rainbow, formed into six-sided pieces hand-stitched together into a circle to resemble a flower. Quilters would recognize the pattern as Grandma’s Flower Garden.

The rainbow pieces are hand-dyed paper. Joining the flower shapes are more hand-sewn six-sided pieces, made of paper hospital gowns and parchment.

The sections between the flowers have embroidered words from Ingham’s story: patient, surgery, stitches, recovery, cure, joy, life.

The idea to pair artist and survivor came from Annette Lindal, a nurse and Via Christi cancer outreach coordinator who’d seen a similar project done elsewhere.

The Wichita artists, who each earned $500, worked in a range of media, Lindal said: an oil on canvas, a sculpture, a video loop and an acrylic installation piece are among the works. The art will belong to the Komen chapter, which may use it for other exhibits.

Charla Sanderson, assistant director of CityArts, said: “It’s such an exciting thing to be able to mix art and breast cancer survivors… It just shows how art can help people and also show an emotion.”

The artists and the survivors met in February, after each artist had picked a story to work from.

“You talked to me about quilting and gardening,” Jones reminded Ingham, explaining how the pinafore came to be. The colors and the broad black band at the bottom of the pinafore were inspired by Ingham’s written words, in which she compared breast cancer to a thunderstorm — dark and black at first, “with a lot of lightning and tons of rain,” yielding to a rainbow of colors and a cure “over the rainbow.” That last part got Jones thinking about Dorothy and Oz and resulted in the pinafore approach.

Ingham also is something of an artist, quilting, embroidering and working in stained glass. Jones’ hand-dyed paper almost resembles stained glass, a coincidence that surprised the two.

Jones said she hadn’t been nervous about showing the work to Ingham but had hoped that it would honor her. “When you make stuff for yourself, you don’t have to worry,” she said.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Ingham declared.

IF YOU GO

What: An exhibit of art based on the stories of breast cancer survivors. Information about breast cancer will be available.

Where: CityArts, 334 N. Mead.

When: Friday through Sept. 30. Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

How much: Free.