Think pink: Lynchburg artists put on show to combat breast cancer

By Casey Gillis

Published: March 26, 2008

Jennifer Crispen probably should have met Janie Vaughan sooner than she did.

Unbeknownst to them, both were members of the Lynchburg Art Club. But they didn’t actually meet until 2002, after Crispen was diagnosed with breast cancer and had surgery.

Vaughan was one of the American Cancer Society’s Reach to Recovery volunteers, who visit those who’ve had breast cancer surgery.

“It’s your connection,” says Crispen, a professor and head field hockey coach at Sweet Briar College. “They talk to you … and just answer questions.”

Crispen says she immediately bonded with Vaughan, who has been volunteering with the program since her own breast cancer diagnosis in 1989 and surgery.

“Janie has a great sense of humor and a great laugh,” Crispen says. “You can either laugh or cry with this stuff, and laughing is better.”

They discovered a shared love of painting. Crispen had joined the art club a year earlier, and Vaughan had been in it for more than 20 years.

Last year, Crispen approached Vaughan and another art club member with breast cancer, Donna Petty, about doing a show together.

“I had this brainstorm,” Crispen says. “I thought that it would be a good thing in terms of publicizing breast cancer and awareness, and also a good fundraiser.”

The show, called “Art For the Cure: A Pink Ribbon Show,” will open at the Lynchburg Art Club Sunday with a reception from 1:30 to 4 p.m. The show will remain up until April 13, and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Petty passed away in mid-February, and they are dedicating the show to her.

“In the fall, Donna said, ‘I don’t know if I’ll be at the show.’ I think she had a premonition,” Crispen says. “It was important to her. I think it would mean quite a bit to her.”

“We miss Donna. She was a really important part of the group,” Crispen says. “She was a fighter and had probably the best sense of humor going.”

Petty’s love of art began when she was in high school, says her longtime friend Pat Shahrokhi.

“She was artistic with her flowers and her garden and her food and everything,” Shahrokhi says. “Just a true artist of the soul.”

Petty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, but continued to paint.

“She would have been so proud (about the show). She was my dear, dear friend. All of us miss her, but we’re so glad she left this beautiful artwork for everybody to enjoy.”

Like Petty, Crispen and Vaughan discovered their artsy sides at a young age.

Crispen says her father, an architect, was always drawing and sketching, so she took it up.

She never pursued any formal education until 1995, when she took a sabbatical and studied at Fitchburg State College and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Upon returning to Sweet Briar, Crispen continued to paint and recently got a studio at Riverviews Artspace downtown.

“I kind of do quirky art, in a sense,” she says. “I like to see … shapes. My composition is arty, but my actual painting is realistic. I like pieces of things.”

Crispen says being diagnosed with cancer changed the way she painted.

“I felt freer to experiment,” she says. “(Before) I was a pretty tight painter. I was very precise.”

Vaughan, on the other hand, says she didn’t notice any changes in her art after her diagnosis.

She enjoyed painting and drawing while growing up in Martinsville. “Then when I had free time as an adult, I thought, ‘I’ll just take this up,’” she says.

That was 20 years ago. Vaughan now utilizes a technique called pouring, in which she applies pigment by pouring watercolor paints onto paper. Her work is eclectic.

“Everything looks kind of different,” says Vaughan, who likes to paint people and nature scenes. “You might look at my work and say, ‘Did the same person do both of these?’”

Vaughan says the upcoming show is important to the entire club.

“We want to honor our friend, who planned this with us.”

If you’re going

-- WHAT: ‘Art For the Cure: A Pink Ribbon Show’
-- WHEN: 1:30 to 4 p.m. Sunday, open until April 13
-- WHERE: Lynchburg Art Club, 1011 Rivermont Ave.
-- INFO: (434) 528-9434