News & Updates

Jayme Fahrer Explores Grief and Healing Through Bold Abstract Art

Jayme Fahrer is a New Jersey-based abstract artist, educator and advocate for meningitis awareness. Her art is bold, expressive and deeply personal, reflective of a journey of survival, healing and self-acceptance.

“While I have always loved art, even as a kid, it wasn’t until I got sick in 2009 with bacterial meningitis that I really got into it,” she notes.

At 22, while commuting to New York City for her job as a personal assistant, Jayme suddenly fell ill and was hospitalized with a life-threatening infection. “It was miraculous that I survived meningitis,” she says. What followed was a month in the hospital and four months learning to walk again. Though she recovered physically, the emotional impact lingered—and changed everything.

“While I was recuperating, I heard about art therapy, and that got me back into the arts more seriously,” she recalls. “Suddenly, I had a reason to make art. It was my outlet.”

Before her illness, Jayme believed that to be an artist, you had to be perfect. “If you can’t use oil or paint a perfect landscape, then you aren’t an artist,” she once thought. But through art therapy, she saw others using creativity to process emotions and to heal. “That freed me,” she says. “It helped me heal from my own trauma.”

Jayme describes her process as unapologetically messy. She often works with house paint—specifically “oops” cans from hardware stores—and lets color lead her. “Color always comes first,” she explains. “If I’m angry, I’m reaching for red. If I’m feeling lighter, I’ll go for pinks and blues.” She slams, splashes, scrapes and pours her way across the canvas, letting movement and emotion guide the work.

Her paintings are not about creating something traditionally “pretty.” They are about presence and honesty. “My biggest struggle is grieving who I used to be before I got sick,” she says. “I grieve all the time, but now I just dance with it. I carry it, and I accept it as part of who I am.”

That relationship with grief inspired the upcoming art show at West Windsor Arts: “Good Grief.” The show, co-curated with her friend Charli Decker, is about the stages of grief. “Good Grief" is such a perfect name for the show because grief is not always bad. There’s beauty and growth in it.” The show invites viewers to explore and connect with their own grief, in all its complexity.

Jayme’s commitment to emotional expression doesn’t stop at her own practice. She regularly teaches workshops like Flow and Let Go, where participants are encouraged to abandon perfection and tap into their own emotions through color and motion. She has taught private lessons, led summer camp programs and exhibited throughout New Jersey, including the Jewish Federation of Somerset. The show at West Windsor Arts will be her first there.

Beyond her art, Jayme is a passionate advocate for meningitis awareness. She speaks out about prevention and the importance of vaccination. “My doctor didn’t suggest the vaccine because I wasn’t going away to college,” she says. “Now I tell everyone: Talk to your doctor, ask about the shot, know the signs.”

Today Jayme is excited to be celebrating her 10-year anniversary with husband Dan. “He is my biggest supporter!” she exclaims. 

She continues not only to paint, but also to teach and advocate. “I had the confidence to suggest something like “Oh Good Grief “ because I’ve come to understand that art doesn’t have to be perfect,” she says. “It just has to be real.”

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