"Chiyu" donation for Auction at Stellers Gallery October 1st

"Chiyu"

40"x40"

Mixed Media Painting on Wood Panel

©2010 Jennifer J L Jones

"Chiyu" is the Japanese word meaning healing/recovery. I thought this would be an appropriate title for this piece given that it was created with the idea of donating it and auctioning it off for breast cancer awareness. My mother is a breast cancer survivor and this is one of many paintings I have donated over the years to support breast cancer research and awareness; this is the second painting I've created specifically as a donation.

There is also a great little story behind this painting as well... Originally it was a painting entitled "Red Luminary" that I shipped to Lisbon, Portugal for an exhibition in 2006. This particular gallery ended up closing and the owner didn't bother to contact me or let me know... it took me over a year to get someone to find him, I hired a lawyer that "duped me" and I had to get numerous attorneys to assist me and eventually the U.S. Embassy became involved in order to get the painting returned from the gallery owner. Once the painting was recovered, it was locked up in a safe at the embassy until I could make arrangements to ship it back to the states. While they do have shipping companies abroad, they unfortunately don't have "pack and ship" companies. This put me in a predicament and the only thing left to do was to fly to Portugal and pack up my paintings myself. I flew to Lisbon and had an incredible journey... and long story cut short, that is how one of my paintings ended up in the Embassy's permanent collection. If it weren't for the strings pulled by my attorney here in Atlanta as well as the Embassy's assistance, this painting would not have been available for me to rework and turn into something entirely new and different this summer. I see this painting as a survivor! And I think it's appropriate to name it "Chiyu".

Chiyu's retail value is $3600. I hope we will be able to see at least that amount from the upcoming auction at Stellers Gallery. It's going toward a great cause and I hope some of you out there (even long distance) will consider bidding on this piece. Please contact Hillary Tuttle at Stellers Gallery for more information and/or to place your bid.

Thank you all so much for your wonderful support!