"Jennie Traill Schaeffer: Regrouped" Benefits Lung Cancer Research

Jennie Traill Schaeffer: Regrouped, a set on Flickr.

This Saturday TraillWorks is hosting a reception for my exhibit, "Jennie Traill Schaeffer: Regrouped" a mini-retrospective of my work from the past ten years. From 5 - 8pm join us at the gallery for conversation, eats, and some painting demonstrations.

This exhibit is not only a great chance to see a wide range of my work, but also an opportunity to help support a cause and purchase at special prices (10% donation and 10% off the listed prices). Since I began selling my work I've found an annual cause to donate a portion of my sales. Last year I was able to support more than one cause through the gallery: Friend 2 Friend, Birth Haven, and Turn the Towns Teal, Inc., as well as local school tricky trays.

Throughout the run of this exhibit I will be making a donation from sales of my work directly to Dr. Valerie Rusch's lung cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. She performed my mother-in-law's successful surgery to remove her lung cancer last year. My family is very grateful for the treatment she received both from her surgeon and Sloan-Kettering, and I'm thrilled I will be able to support Dr. Rusch's research.

I've been very touched by the many visitors to the gallery with stories of both loss and life, related to lung cancer. The common theme among all of the visitors was that lung cancer is not as well-funded or researched as some of the other cancers. I lost my grandmother, Clarice Schaeffer, when I turned 13 to lung cancer. She lived at the time in Syracuse, NY, and was diagnosed with cancer from asbestos exposure from an office building she worked in during WWII. We believe she had mesothelioma; she lived for about 2 - 3 years on oxygen, lost function in one lung and eventually passed away from suffocation. Her passing at that point in my life left a big impact on me.

I hope that I can help raise money through this exhibit to keep all of our loved ones healthier and around longer.



Via Flickr:
Exhibit runs January 14th through February 28th, 2012. The ten year retrospective of Jennie Traill Schaeffer's work is on exhibit at TraillWorks in Newton, NJ, and is benefiting Lung Cancer Research.