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If You Go

What: Opening of BRAvo Art Project exhibit.

When: 6-9 p.m. today, display is up until Oct. 20.

Where: Riverside Artists Gallery, 188 Front St.

Includes: Silent auction of the bras, live music by Simply Ira, gourmet appetizers and desserts, a presentation for participants, health and cancer support organizations on hand.

About the Project: The BRAvo Art Project encourages participants to turn an ordinary bra into a work of art, as a way to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research, education and treatment. Bras are submitted with a donation, which goes to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and National Philanthropic Trust. One hundred percent of the silent auction profits are also donated.

By the numbers

According to the American Cancer Society, there were 184,450 new cases of breast cancer in the United States in 2008; 182,460 of those were in women.

Breast cancer claimed the lives of 40,930 people in 2008, 40,480 of them women.

Source: ww.cancer.org

They hang in memory of loved ones lost, they sit in display in honor of fighters who have triumphed and were dreamt up and created in support of those still fighting.

Hanging from the ceiling and displayed on the walls of the Riverside Artists Gallery beginning today, bedazzled, feathered and completely abstract bras that make up the BRAvo Art Project are a lighthearted combination of a celebration of womanhood and a fight against one of its most deadly enemies.

"Each one comes with a story - there's a reason we're doing this," said Joy Frank-Collins, founder of the project. "There's heartbreak when you hear about a loss from breast cancer and triumph from the survivors. There was a question on the application that asked if the person had survived cancer, and I've never seen so many exclamation points as after the word survivor from those who had beaten this."

Kathy Buffington, 54, of Marietta, is one of those survivors, thanks to a mammogram that led to early discovery of a tumor.

Buffington, diagnosed with breast cancer only a month after her sister, Joyce Cox, of Virginia, created a "Mardi Bra" for the two, both now cancer-free after mastectomies, as well as two friends lost to the disease.

"It's just amazing that so many people wanted to be a part of this," she said. "It makes you feel so loved and cared for and that people really do care and want to find a cure."

From the bra made of hard hats to the one created entirely from Hershey's kisses, the pieces of art are intended to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research, education and treatment. In the meantime, the garments honor women who have been affected by breast cancer.

Here are the stories of a few.

Rocking a Bandanna

Lesa Casto's weakest moment in her ongoing, 10-month battle with breast cancer came when her hair was gone, but it wasn't due to vanity.

"It had to do with being such a strong person and everyone knowing me as a strong person and then having this outward sign to the world that I was sick," she said. "I wasn't as strong as I thought, and everyone could see it."

But an offhand comment from a perfect stranger would soon give Casto her strength right back.

"You are so rocking that bandanna," a McDonald's worker told her as Casto went through the drive-thru one day.

She looked at herself in the mirror, seeing her bright pink bandanna, big earrings and sunglasses in a whole new way.

"I thought, 'I am totally rocking this bandanna,'" she said. "It took some stranger to completely change my perspective from thinking 'I'm sick and everyone knows it' to 'Hey, I look pretty cool.'"

Since her diagnosis in December, the moments where Casto has struggled have been few and far between, said her mother-in-law, Joann.

"She's been up all the way through it - just bound and determined," she said. "She's a real fighter."

When it came time to honor her daughter-in-law through the BRAvo Art Project, one bra simply wasn't enough - Joann made three. One has a cookie theme, another is a tribute to Americana, and the third features pink and green confetti and actually lights up.

"I love them," said Casto. "If we can interject humor into a subject that's almost taboo to talk about even today, it's great. It opens the lines of communication."

The creations are a visible sign of the support she's had all along from Joann, her husband, Terry, and four grown children and stepchildren, Casto said. They've helped keep her outlook sunny through chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and now, radiation.

She even aggressively pursued - and earned - a promotion at Comfort Keepers while undergoing treatment.

"I can't let anger, grief and cancer ruin my life when I have so many things to offer and give back," she said. "There are moments now that I can't even imagine what my life felt like before this, but I'm still in charge. My life is different but it is what it is and I will make something of it."

A Daughter Left Behind

When Marietta Middle School sixth-grader Jillian Riley was just 2, breast cancer entered her life.

The diagnosis was given to her mother, Joni, 29, and it would take her life three years later, leaving a daughter with a few special memories and a desire for a cure.

"It's really important to me, because of my mom," said Riley, now 11.

Joni's daughter and her mother, Hannah Holland, joined forces on the BRAvo Art Project, making three bras for a project they know Joni herself would have loved.

"She was silly and whimsical, too," said Holland of her daughter. "And I know she would want us to fight cancer any way we can. We would never want another child to go through what Jillian has had to go through."

The two went together to K-Mart to pick up supplies, not knowing how to even begin making their own unique bras.

Then Riley drew inspiration from a memory and soon had created a beach-themed bra.

"My mom really liked the beach," she said. "It was one of the things we liked to do together."

Riley can also remember being with her mother at Relays for Life, before she had even made it past kindergarten.

"I do have a lot of memories of her and that's one of them," she said. "We did a lot of things together. She was so fun and she liked to help people a lot."

Holland's submission, titled "Joni's Flower Garden," also paid tribute to the much-loved, much-missed woman.

The strength with which Joni fought the disease was an inspiration, Holland said.

"She tried every treatment she could," she said. "She fought for Jillian's sake. She didn't want to leave her."

Now her 11-year-old daughter is continuing the fight.

"The more people that fight, the sooner we'll find a cure," Riley said. "Then more people can be saved."

For Those Who Inspire

There are many qualities Lori Milner has that she can trace back to her mother and recently, two became intertwined in a unique way.

The "Snowfall" bra Milner, of Waterford, made to help fund cancer research is a tribute to both caution and creativity instilled in her by her parent.

From her earliest days, Milner's mother, Cheryl Haught, encouraged her art and passion for creation.

"I get my creativity from her," said Milner. "I can remember as a young girl using her sewing machine to make clothes for my Barbie dolls. She let me be creative and has always loved to see the things I create."

Twenty years ago, when Milner was in her 20s, she watched her mother be diagnosed with and then beat breast cancer.

It provided a different kind of lesson for her that she's never forgotten.

"I started getting mammograms in my 30s," said Milner. "I'm watchful. And it's such an easy thing to do that can save your life. Seeing her go through that was scary - very scary."

Paulette Hall, 61, of Lowell, has also been through the scariest days of breast cancer but found a special system of support two years ago when she became cancer-free.

The faces of each of those people now adorn a bra on display with the BRAvo Art Project. All are members of the MOV'n Dragons Dragonboat team of cancer survivors and supporters who competed in and won a Cleveland race this summer.

"It's a group of wonderful women," said Hall. "They've become a really big part of my life and gave me something to look forward to three times a week."

Aside from a vigorous workout for her recovering body, the group has helped heal her spirit, Hall said.

"You can talk about your cancer with them and realize that this happened to them, too," she said. "I get a lot of support from them. When this project came along I thought what better symbol is there to use than the Dragons? It was perfect because they support me."