Friends turn out to help artist Chun Photo gallery: Friends help ailing artist Peggy Chun raise money to pay her medical bills


By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser Staff Writer

Art and household items were sold at the home of artist Peggy Chun over the weekend to help her pay her medical expenses.

DEBORAH BOOKER | The Honolulu Advertiser
WHAT'S NEXT:

Peggy Chun and artist's assistant Magdalena Hawajska will display their collaboration of Father Damien - made with watercolor mosaic painted by students from Holy Trinity School - at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the state Capitol. It will be the first time the painting will be viewed by the public.




NU'UANU - Items ranging from an original painting to a brand new dishwasher were among the treasure trove of finds offered over the weekend at a garage sale to benefit Honolulu artist Peggy Chun.

There also were surfboards, holiday cards featuring island scenes, plastic ware, purses, shoes, games and books to raise money to defray the medical costs of Chun, an artist and author of "The Watercolor Cat" who has ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease).

Among all of the donations, Chun sat in her wheelchair with the words "Not for sale" on her face mask.

It all started out innocently, said Chun's daughter-in-law, Kimi Chun: Hold a two-day garage sale with donated items and use the money to help pay the healthcare costs for Chun, who is cared for around the clock at her Nu'uanu home.

"We had piles and piles of donations, up to the ceiling," Chun said.

One of the donations was an original painting done by Chun of her ex-husband. "Peggy's not emotionally attached to this picture," Kimi Chun said.

Another donated item was a brand new dishwasher. And friends Ryan Lee, 10, and Pono Lee, 11, stayed up late to help their mother bake brownies and cookies in the shapes of lips, to portray Chun's most recent picture series.

Medical costs above and beyond insurance coverage run about $10,000 a month, Kimi Chun said. According to a blog posting by Kimi Chun, the family's funds were getting desperately low.

While bargain hunters came and went, often with bags of goodies, Chun was being cared for by her team of "Peg Leg" volunteers.

Diagnosed in 2002, Chun is paralyzed except for limited eye movements. Unable to move her hands, or even use muscles to smile with, Chun still remains as engaged as ever. She directed visitors into her cheery bedroom, where she chatted by selecting a letter at a time from a board by using her eyes.

"Thanks," she spelled out. "How wonderful."

It's the same way she communicated with her artist's assistant Magdalena Hawajska, who was the muscle behind Chun's newest painting - A vision of Father Damien, a Roman Catholic missionary who helped Hansen's disease patients in Kalaupapa on Moloka'i and ultimately died of the disease.

The painting features Kalaupapa's coastline painted on one side embedded with watercolor mosaic and a Vincent van Gogh stylized mosaic on the other.

In one of Damien's hands is the handprint of Chun, surrounded by other handprints of her family and close friends.

No one has seen the painting, which was recently completed and sat on an easel in Chun's attic studio yesterday. It will be unveiled on Friday.

"Everything was done to Peggy's specifications," Kimi Chun said. "We're hoping that it gets to tour all over the state in Catholic churches and maybe then to the Vatican.

"It was really amazing," she said. "Only another artist would understand Peggy's direction. She spoke in artist speak. It's given her a reason to stay alive."

Loaded down with items yesterday, Lisa Lambert, a Kane'ohe resident, said she was drawn to the garage sale by the lure of discounted prices on Chun's artwork.

"I bought several things," Lambert said. "I'm an artist, too. I wanted to buy from the artist. It's all going to a good cause."


Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ap...0/NEWS01/80310...