Artist Lori Schafer’s exhibition on display at PMHS

Lori Schafer’s pet portraits are currently on view at Pope Animal Shelter through February 15. About them, she says, “out of a longing for animal companionship, I returned to drawing and produced these square-shaped pet portraits in 2022. It began with working from photographs of my beloved dogs long gone. Thankfully, I had captured countless photographs of each of them. Then, a trip to Pope Memorial Humane Society last summer to visit the shelter cats led to more photographs and video clips, shared to my Instagram account to help get them successfully adopted. That collection of faces provided ample material for further drawings.

Working on paper with drawing materials is my comfort zone. Looking at the sweet, beautiful individual faces provided a therapeutic “timeout” from life’s day-to-day stressors. I utilized my stash of tools: charcoal, graphite, pastel, and chalk. Occasionally, I introduced the “wet” – acrylic, watercolor, oil, or oil stick. Watercolor paper holds up so well to all these options, so it was the ground of choice.

I hope you, the viewer, feel the love I feel when making these.”

Note: a portion of proceeds (30%) is a donation to Pope Memorial Humane Society. If you are interested in showing on the art wall, send an email to art@popehumane.org.