 On November 19th - 20th you'll find me among 50 other local artists displaying during the annual Durham Art Walk Holiday Market. Hosted by the Durham Arts Council, this is an event with original art, fine crafts, live music and food. Artists will be exhibiting in booths outside of the Durham Arts Council, at 120 Morris Street, Durham, as well as inside the building around the galleries. You'll find me outside, not too far from the live music. Check out this beautiful interactive guide to find me, and other artists of interest. This will be my second appearance at the juried market and I'll be bringing many of my small TeaScapes and Take a Seat series paintings, some original handpainted ARTaments featuring local spots, a small selection of TraillWorks yoga mats and throw pillows (which you can order on location if inventory runs out), and note cards, and a small number of limited edition giclée prints.  Duke Forest handpainted ARTament, in progress  Lucky Strike Tower and the Eno River, In Progress ARTaments (will be completed for market)  Yellow Chair of the Snow Banks, Limited Edition Giclée, Limited Quantity Available at Market. Due to managing my inventory, a limited number of prints, yoga mats, and throw pillows will be on hand. If you're local and coming to the Durham Art Walk Holiday Market, send me a note in your order and if I have the inventory we can arrange pickup that weekend. You can always order in advance for fulfillment in December. Shipping is available to people outside of Durham, NC, as well as local pickup in my studio. If you plan on attending, send me an email so I know to look for you! Looks like the weather will be turning more seasonable, so dress warmly! Hoping for clear Carolina skies and good company.   Throw Pillows and Yoga Mats  My booth from last year's Durham Art Walk
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 Finnigan, 12" x 12", Oil on Wood Panel, ©2022, Jennie Traill Schaeffer This past February I participated in a virtual artist residency supported through the Artist Mother Network. It was a month full of creativity, productivity and getting me out of old habits and into new. While, not everything stuck, I found the experience and work is giving birth to new ideas just now.
Later in the year, the Artist Mother Network, host of the Artist Mother Podcast, merged with the Thrive Artists Network, giving birth to the Thrive Together Network, which I have been a member of since they formed. Building on the February residency idea, the new network put forth the idea of a September Virtual Residency. Part fear of missing out, and part needing a kick in the butt while going through many health challenges, I decided to participate. What I neglected to consider is the whirlwind of September, due to the first month of school and both of my boys participating in baseball for the first time together, and my ongoing health challenges. I energetically pushed forward and created a plan with Thrive's guidance and some ideas from other artists on the network.  A Seat by the Firehole, Watercolor and Gouache with Image Transfer on Paper, 14" x 9.75", ©2018 Jennie Traill Schaeffer It’s very hard to have ideas. It’s very hard to put yourself out there, it’s very hard to be vulnerable, but those people who do that are the dreamers, the thinkers and the creators. They are the magic people of the world. - Amy Poehler, from Yes, Please I think I forgot over the past few decades that I was one of those dreamers, a thinker, somehow magical for what I do. I grew up as a dreamer - playing, creating, and then I became a mother, at the same time as opening a studio / gallery in a storefront. A lot of energy went into creating that space, the events, the shows, the lessons, and some artwork along the way.
Since closing my brick and mortar in 2013, I birthed another son, took time off from creating art, but then slowly started pulling myself up and out of my house. My art classes moved locations, grew in number and then shrank again while I tended to some very personal needs for my family. All the while, I was making, exhibiting, but something was shifting. During that contrition, my artwork started blossoming again, changing, emerging as something wholly new. While motherhood may spark dreaming in some people, I have found in some ways the opposite. There were moments of creativity and bursts of ingenuity that surprised me, but for the most part I was tired, exhausted, and spent - trying to juggle so many things. The truth of motherhood is that it is so damned hard. And, it doesn't get easier. But, somehow in the past two years, I have worked equally damned hard on myself and have found a burst of growth that is too amazing not to notice. I have found peace, I have found more space for my ideas, and I have found new places for my work.  Chair of the Red Rocks, mixed media on Arches, 2018, SOLD TeaScapes grew out of an experiment and a need to do something with a collection of empty tea packages I had saved. One night during an adult watercolor class I was teaching, while the students were working, I played around with transferring a tea bag onto a stretched piece of Arches watercolor paper that I had stained with tea several years ago. It had been sitting in my studio untouched. It wasn't precious to me, which gave me the freedom to play with the tea bag. It happened almost too easily - using a gel medium coated on the surface of the paper and the package, I laid it down with the print facing the page, dried it, and then rubbed off with paper with a damp sponge. What was left was intriguing texturally. At the same time, I had cut out some mid-century styled chairs from a furniture catalog, and thought to transfer that as well. In doing so, it dawned on me the connection between the tea packaging design and contents and the landscape out West. Each collaged paper is then paired with a watercolored landscape that suits the transfer - the papers tell me what they want to be. You can watch a video of my process here. I got giddy over the juxtaposition - the way an artist does when she hits an "aha" moment. The meaningfulness behind the work how these pieces mirror my own personal growth through a traumatic period as a mother. The past two years took a toll on my spiritual, mental and physical self. The prior work I was doing with appliances no longer felt important, or relevant. With this, I was able to detach from my environment and go back to places where I felt whole, lightened and free. The works currently are focused on images that tie landscapes from Utah and Wyoming to the tea I'm drinking now (after my coffee - my first love). The small size, 5" x 7", lends itself to having a sense of completion since my studio time has been historically choppy and short. Each one is painted on Strathmore 500 Series watercolor paper and then mounted onto archival cradled wood panels by Ampersand, coated with UV spray and varnish, and wired and ready for hanging. Since beginning these in February, I'm now verging on 16 #TeaScapes with hopes of creating more. Six of them are already listed on my site, while any others not sold at this weekend's Maplewood Art & Music Walk, will be added next week. So, here's a peak at the pieces available online now, as well as new works getting ready for Sunday. If you purchase anything, they will be hung on Sunday and marked as sold, shipping next week. Stop by my booth on Sunday from 11 - 5pm - #42 on Highland Place, use 9 Highland Place, Maplewood, NJ on your navigation.  Wild Sweet Utah, Watercolor and Image Transfer on Watercolor Paper, 2018, Jennie Traill Schaeffer, New Work premiering at Maplewood Art Walk, Available  New TeaScapes ready for mounting, by Jennie Traill Schaeffer  Saturday and Sunday, June 2 - 3rd, I'll be exhibiting new works alongside two other West Orange artists, Samar Hussaini and Peggy Pardon, at the studio where I teach my classes, Oh! Canary. We all happen to have kids around the same age within the town and are each striving to work as professional artists. You'll have an opportunity to meet us all, see and purchase our work, watch us work when we're not chatting with visitors, and see a sampling of student work from the students of Oh! Canary. Plus, you'll be entered to win one of my limited edition prints, "June's Pearls," a nod to the ever so wonderful Jersey Blueberry. The SOMA Studio Tour encompasses both South Orange and Maplewood, along with some artists from surrounding areas (like us). View the map of all the studio locations which include 75 artists!  ENTER TO WIN DURING THE TOUR: June's Pearls, Limited Edition Giclée, 12" x 6", printed on 100% textured rag, © Jennie Traill Schaeffer  In progress works by Samar Hussaini ABOUT SAMAR HUSSAINI: Samar Hussaini is an Arab-American, Fine Artist and Graphic Designer working, creating, and living outside of NYC in West Orange, NJ, and also a friend of mine. Designed with multiple layers showing the enriching distinctions of being an Arab-American her work creates thought-provoking ideas of dialogue and hope. Hussaini tells the story of Arab identity in a positive way transforming the prevalent misconceptions portrayed in the media and revealing the story of Arab people in a humanizing way. Hussaini earned her Bachelor of Arts from University of Maryland, with a double major in Studio Art and Art History and her Masters at Pratt Institute in Communication Design.
ABOUT PEGGY PARDON: For several years Sasha Huetz owned and operated a well known high-end vintage boutique in New York City's lower east side called Peggy Pardon. After the shop closed, Huetz started a family and continues to work as fashion stylist for editorial shoots and celebrities alike. Peggy Pardon (2.0) is a pet project of hers - setting out to create something with her hands and in doing so taught herself the art of porcelain clay, resin and metalsmithing. In the process Huetz came up with a collection of hand-crafted jewelry that she herself would wear.  Work in Progress by Jennie Traill Schaeffer ABOUT JENNIE TRAILL SCHAEFFER: If you're new to TraillWorks or you've been following for awhile but don't know a lot about me, I'm a teaching artist living in West Orange, NJ, just west of NYC. I earned my Bachelors of Fine Arts in both painting and art education from Syracuse University, and had the opportunity to study in Florence, Italy. I've spent more than a decade painting oils that juxtapose kitchen appliances and food with religious symbology, along with landscapes of importance. Over the past two years, my work has started to shift and I believe I'm finally discovering a new body of work, returning to the landscape in a new way. Some of these works will be exhibited for the first time this weekend. Please join me Saturday and Sunday at Oh Canary, located at 513A Valley Street, Maplewood, NJ. And, if you can't be there, join us on social media (Instagram & Facebook - @traillworks) over the weekend, or subscribe to my newsletter for the official release of these works in my online shop. |
Jennie Traill SchaefferDeemed the Kitchen God's Artist by NJ Savvy Living for my sainted appliances, I'm now known more for my vibrant, meditational paintings of chairs set surprisingly in landscapes. Since relocating to NC from NJ, mothering my two sons, and caring for our rescue pup, Cider, took the lead. Now, that my Durham home studio is renovated it's open again for virtual art coaching and the resumption of my personal art and commissions. The work I make is inspired by my joy of teaching, exploring nature, and traveling. On The Teaching Artist Blog, I share my approach to teaching and educate my readers about my creative process. Join my VIPs for First DibsWORKSHOPS
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