{"id":1495,"date":"2016-11-04T13:20:05","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T17:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2016\/?p=1495"},"modified":"2016-11-09T15:53:11","modified_gmt":"2016-11-09T20:53:11","slug":"photographer-captures-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fall2016\/departments\/photographer-captures-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographer Captures Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"web_bohlen\"

Mary Jane Bohlen published Bosom Buddies<\/em> to honor women who have had breast cancer. (Photo by Robert M. Bohlen.)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Laura Moyer<\/span><\/p>\n

At first, artist Mary Jane Condon Bohlen \u201994<\/strong> had to find fellow breast cancer survivors who\u2019d let her photograph them \u2013 chest scars exposed \u2013 for her book about life after diagnosis.<\/p>\n

But as word of the project circulated, women started asking to be included. They were proud of their resilient bodies and eager to share stories about how surviving breast cancer changed them inside and out. <\/span><\/p>\n

The result is Bosom Buddies<\/i>, a book of powerful photographs, essays, and poems celebrating determination and grace. <\/span><\/p>\n

Bohlen is donating half the proceeds of the recently self-published book to the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. She\u2019s been involved with the center since 2008, when she and husband Bob moved back to her native New England after almost 30 years in the Fredericksburg area. <\/span><\/p>\n

The move north happened soon after Bohlen\u2019s second breast cancer diagnosis.\u00a0 <\/span>She wanted to be closer to family, and the diagnosis, 16 years after her first bout with cancer, sealed the decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Bohlen found it bittersweet to leave Virginia, where she\u2019d earned a later-in-life degree from Mary Washington, had a satisfying career as an art teacher, and become a respected local artist.<\/span><\/p>\n

The oldest of eight children, she figured her formal education was over once she completed high school in 1961. \u201cI thought you had to be really brilliant to go to college, or have a lot of money,\u201d Bohlen recalled. Instead, she put her photo skills and artist\u2019s eye to work as a medical photographer. <\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until many years later, when she lived in the Fredericksburg area, that she reconsidered. The sisters at Montfort Academy, a Catholic school where Bohlen taught art part time, encouraged her to get a degree and teach full time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cost was still a worry. But for Mother\u2019s Day 1990, daughter Nie and sons Bobby and Patrick, then ages 16, 14, and 5, made her a deal. They\u2019d put their savings toward two college classes, but Bohlen had to promise not to watch TV or go on a date with Daddy until her homework was done. And she had to get A\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

At Mary Washington, Bohlen recalls, a financial aid specialist helped her piece together scholarships and grants to cover costs, and professors helped her balance scholarship, work, and family. \u201cI don\u2019t think you would find that in a large college or university,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her schedule was grueling, especially after her first breast cancer diagnosis. She remembers teaching elementary art on Thursday mornings, taking chemotherapy in the afternoon, attending a night class at Mary Washington, teaching again on Fridays, and feeling sick to death on Saturdays.<\/span><\/p>\n

But her college classes absorbed her, and with her family pulling for her, Bohlen stayed on the dean\u2019s list and finished in four years.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a teacher and artist, Bohlen earned a Fulbright Memorial Teacher Fund scholarship to study in Japan, was twice honored as Northern Virginia\u2019s outstanding elementary art teacher, and taught and exhibited in Virginia and Rhode Island.<\/span><\/p>\n

Creating Bosom Buddies <\/i>melded a lifetime\u2019s worth of artistic and personal development. And it\u2019s tangible proof of Bohlen\u2019s refusal to be daunted by cancer or anything else. \u201cMy philosophy has always been, when your time comes, it comes,\u201d she said. Meanwhile, though, \u201cI\u2019m going to live my life as fully as I can.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Laura Moyer At first, artist Mary Jane Condon Bohlen \u201994 had to find fellow breast cancer survivors who\u2019d let her photograph them \u2013 chest scars exposed \u2013 for her book about life after diagnosis. But as word of the project circulated, women started asking to be included. They were proud of their resilient bodies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15641,"featured_media":1489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[161,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-profiles","category-departments","entry"],"subheading":"","yoast_head":"\nPhotographer Captures Life - Fall 2016<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fall2016\/departments\/photographer-captures-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Photographer Captures Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Laura Moyer At first, artist Mary Jane Condon Bohlen \u201994 had to find fellow breast cancer survivors who\u2019d let her photograph them \u2013 chest scars exposed \u2013 for her book about life after diagnosis. 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