Artist overcomes bone cancer
By Jackie Perrone jacper@juno.com

Jacob Satterwhite overcomes bone cancer and wins national prize for his art.

Jacolby Satterwhite of Columbia knows all about "Remission and Resilience." He put that name on the painting that recently won him grand prize in a national exhibition in Washington DC.

At age 11, this artist faced a devastating siege of bone cancer, which threatened to take away all use of his right arm and shoulder. Now, 10 years later, he found ways to continue painting and build his career.

"I have been drawing and painting ever since I can remember," says Satterwhite. "When I was diagnosed with bone cancer, the treatment included shoulder replacement surgery, putting in a metal rod, and some bone grafts. It was possible I would never have use of my right arm again.

"But I have found ways to do what I want to do. I can use my fingers, and basically, I just use my left arm to hold up my right arm while I paint."

In early November, Satterwhite received the $20,000 grand prize in the VSA Exhibition called "Driven," created to showcase the work of emerging artists with disabilities.

The show opened in September at the Smithsonian Institution's S. Dillon Ripley Center and will run until December 31. It is sponsored by VSA arts, an organization founded by Jean Kennedy Smith in 1974 to showcase the arts for people with disabilities, along with Volkswagen of America, Inc.

Satterwhite's talent emerged early. He started high school at Eau Claire High, then won admission to the Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville for his last two high school years.

"Those two years at the Governor's School were a growing experience for me," he says. "I feel I grew five years in those two."

From there, Satterwhite won a scholarship to the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he will graduate next May with a major in painting.

"I have had some incredible opportunities for exposure and education," he says. "I spent a semester in New York City with exposure at TRIBECA, and also had an opportunity to travel to Italy to visit Rome and view ancient art.

"I am putting in applications for graduate school at several places including Columbia University and Yale."

Satterwhite's parents are Henry and Patricia Satterwhite. "My mother is a creative artist who has inspired and supported me all my life," he says. "She has put together a body of drawings, which I hope to get published."