Local resident’s surgery led to inspiration with makeup art

Kaylee Rabideau is flanked by her grandmother Lisa Reed and mother Jessica Stevens and other family members and friends at her show at the Tupper Arts center.

by Rich Rosentreter

The exhibit “Many Faces of Kaylee” was held March 6 at the Tupper Arts Center and featured the makeup art by Kaylee Rabideau who had serious brain surgery performed only a year ago and has been since recovering. One of the things she has cultivated is her skill at using makeup, which has been something she enjoyed doing since her childhood.

Kaylee was at the arts center along with her family and friends as her work was on display for the public to see. During the event, her mother Jessica Stevens said she is very proud of what her daughter has accomplished following her surgery. Her “nana” even had T-shirts made up that was highlighted with Kaylee’s image and was given to family and friends. Kaylee told the Free Press that although she is a little shy over all the attention, she truly appreciated all the support she received, especially by those who attended her art showing at the center.

“It feels good,” Kaylee said told the Free Press about the exhibit crowd. “And it’s something I love doing.”

“She felt pretty good in there and I’m super proud of her,” her mom said.

Tupper teacher Wendy Cross first approached officials at the Tupper Arts to have an art show to share with the community Kaylee’s passion for doing very beautiful makeup art, and to also celebrate to the day, Kaylee’s successful surgery in Houston and her amazing recovery.

How she started

Kaylee Rabideau stands proudly with her mother Jessica Stevens in front of her exhibit “The Many Faces of Kaylee” that was on display at the Tupper Arts Center Friday evening (Rich Rosentreter photo)

Kaylee said she has loved make-up since she was five years old and by age 12 she became determined to learn the techniques she had been watching on Youtube and began playing with her own look.

“I remember binge-watching beauty gurus on Youtube on a daily basis,” she said in her personal information flier. “Over the past five years I have taught myself color theory, contouring, and the art of blending to create a variety of looks from editorial to traditional glam.”

“I create self portraits because it gives me full creative control. I can express myself any way I want without any restrictions. I know my face better than anyone else so I am free to transform it through make up and lighting to fit my mood.”

Kaylee has been recovering from brain surgery to treat a tumor over the past year and she has endured tough times and pain during that time span.

“From the time I was five I lived with some pretty scary and debilitating symptoms. Many times I couldn’t even out of bed. Over the years I missed weeks, and sometimes months of school. Being alone and feeling isolated, I would transform myself with make-up as a way to escape the pain of my reality.”

Kaylee reflected on the pain and suffering she lived through as her condition worsened and required surgery, along with the inspiration to begin to develop her talents. Her written message contained much more impact than any question and answer session.

“Becoming a brain tumor survivor and living with a traumatic brain injury has been one of the most impactful experiences of my life thus far. Instead of my brain being an inhabitant of me, I was an inhabitant of my brain. For as long as I’d known, my life was controlled by an invisible, hidden, and unrelenting illness. It was like a puzzle, but all the pieces were scattered, missing, and in the wrong order,” she wrote. “Brain tumor by definition is a collection, or mass, of abnormal cells in the brain. To me, it is so much more than that. It is an invisible memory-taker, mood-changer, life-changer. I didn’t know how one day may be, or how the next will go.”

“Facing this kind of setback not only affected me physically and emotionally, but also academically and socially. Unfortunately, my only priorities over the last four years were to get out of bed that day, and if I did that, I did enough. To live without pain now is something I was not prepared for, and walking everyday in my new shoes means always learning something new about myself. I can do more than I ever could before.”

Her message

“Surviving something as traumatic as this has given me immense amounts of strength and has affected me in more ways than one. The idea that life is too short has become much more important to me. I have become more aware of not taking moments for granted, and appreciating doing even the small stuff, because at one point I was not able to do them,” Kaylee wrote. “I vividly remember opening my eyes for the first time without the monster that had been there so long living inside me, I felt the fog as it started to lift. I did not feel so trapped anymore. I could get the words out. I wasn’t slipping into quicksand. I was no longer in a constant state of pain. There was no ringing. I could spell my own name.”

“Today, I hope that my experience with brain surgery and chronic illness can help others who are dealing with the same thing deal with their struggles and try to alleviate them the way I know how, by making them feel beautiful. As I’ve now been through my own set of changes and growth, I want to use it as fuel to transform others, but in a different way. To me, if you’re feeling good on the inside, it makes a great impact on how you’re feeling on the outside.”

And after all her experience, Kaylee had an inspirational message for others that came in the form of her new-found life mission.

“Choosing a career as an esthetician and makeup artist will allow me to motivate others to feel better about themselves and in turn, hopefully temporarily ease whatever pain someone is feeling on the inside. It’s my goal in life to make others feel confident in themselves in any way that I can, no matter how big or small the impact.”