Art and music to the rescue

Stewart Benson, a member of the arts community who has worked as a framer at Stremmel Gallery for 12 years, discovered a lump under his right arm in January. By early April, he had received the biopsy results: level-three melanoma. The doctors gave him one week to, as he says, “put [his] life together” before chemotherapy treatments began.

But the pieces of a cancer patient’s life are not so easily assembled on command. When a patient is too ill to work regularly, life quickly becomes a messy affair of doctor bills, lengthy phone calls to creditors and standing in line at government agencies. Not to mention, in Benson’s case, chemotherapy treatments every three weeks—treatments so harsh that he doesn’t start to feel well again for weeks.

“Every third week you feel OK,” Benson says. “And on the fourth week, you start all over again.”

Though he has close-cropped dark hair and a football player’s build, Benson appears to be a tough guy for just a fraction of a second. His kind, direct gaze and gentle smile are quick to put one at ease. When I talked to him about the benefit, neighbors had just stopped by his house to ask him if he needed any food from Costco.

“I’m OK today, but if it gets to that point …” he says, adding that his friends have been very supportive—unlike his creditors and governmental agencies.

For the last two months, Benson has been working with his landlord, credit card companies and phone and power companies to lessen his financial burden until September, when chemotherapy treatments end. Some have been helpful; many have not.

“You try to live and focus on healing and you think, ‘The government won’t be so difficult,’ “ Benson says. “Then you get a form, you wait in line, you go back, you wait in line. … It’s like the IRS. It’s like you’re guilty until you’re proven innocent.”

While governmental agencies have had little more than a headache to offer Benson, the arts community is going all out to raise funds for Benson’s bills, including doctor bills not paid by his medical insurance. The arts community will hold one of its biggest fund-raisers in recent memory June 15 at Esoteric Coffeehouse & Gallery. Organizers say that between the live music, food, wine, art auction and raffle, it’s sure to be one hell of a party.

Jim Zlokovich, a local artist with seemingly tireless enthusiasm, says that he got the idea for the benefit when he went to see Benson in the hospital during chemo treatment.

“Right away I knew what to do,” he says. “So this idea took off—since I’m a New Yorker—in a New York minute. The artwork [for the auction] is coming in; it’s flooding in. Everyone’s so gracious.”

But Zlokovich isn’t all that surprised at the outpouring. After all, friends say, Benson is a vital and beloved member of the arts community.

“This is a hell of a guy,” Zlokovich says. “He has no bad opinions about anybody he meets. If somebody sees [a piece of artwork] negatively, he sees it totally opposite. …. When I first met him, I said, ‘That’s it—he’s a friend for life. He’s a rare man.’

Esoteric owner Terri Montague says that the benefit is shaping up to be a huge event. It’s keeping her busy, she says, but it’s worth it.

"[I agreed to host the show] because I knew that Stewart is a very much loved person in the art community. Everybody wants to get together and help him, because hard times come for everybody.”

Zlokovich says that raffle prizes include free tattoo work, golf passes, two free nights at the Siena Hotel Spa Casino, books from Borders, fresh-baked breads and bongo drums.

“This show is huge, and we’re making a dent [in the downtown arts scene]. There is no show like this.”

Benson says that he is awed by the support.

“It’s wonderful the art community could get together for me,” he says. “I hope the art community can do the same thing for other people. The response from this has been overwhelming.”

And encouraging.

“In my mind’s eye, I see myself being healthy," Benson says.