Contemporary artist Jennie Traill Schaeffer stumbled upon the idea of painting portraits of wedding cakes after creating a series commemorating her own. Schaeffer is a graduate of Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (2000) and the recipient of the “Hiram Gee Award,” given each year to a graduating senior painting major.
Named “Best New Artist” in 2006 by the Sussex County Arts & Heritage Council, Schaeffer has exhibited at APeX Gallery and Art at the Mill in New Jersey, and Wired Gallery in Bethlehem, PA, with work located in a growing number of private collections. She was included in the Visual Art Center of NJ’s 21st International Juried Show and NYU’s 30th Small Works at 80 East Washington Square Galleries in New York.
Schaeffer’s works have earned her publication in the New York Times, the Village Voice and the Star Ledger, and selection as a “Gawker Artist”. She has received several awards, notably from Syracuse University, the Somerset Art Association, and the Sussex County Arts & Heritage Council. In January 2008, Schaeffer was awarded the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Scholarship for a month-long residency at Peters Valley Craft Center.
Schaeffer grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania and holds a BFA in painting and art education from Syracuse University. She currently resides in Newton, NJ with her husband, Lee Goldberg, and their dog, Ringo. The artist recently relocated her studio, TraillWorks, to a storefront at 135 Spring Street, in Newton, where she runs her studio, lesson space and gallery.