“Reggie Sipping Coffee,” painting by Rachel Mindrup

I find out a lot of cool stuff on Facebook. For instance, my friend, artist Rachel Mindrup, has a Facebook page called Many Faces of NF, which features her amazing paintings of people who suffer from Neurofibromatosis (NF). Before I saw her pictures online, I had never heard of NF. It opened a dialogue.

When I asked her where she was showing her work, Rachel said she had about fifty paintings just sitting in storage at the time. She felt compelled to paint them, but didn’t think anyone would care or want to buy them. I told her she was mistaken and that I’d find a way to get them in front of the public. I was thinking of the McGoogan Library of Medicine, or maybe the hallways in Sorrell, or the DOC atrium.

Then, I spoke with Kalani Simpson in Public Relations who also knows Rachel. He agreed that her work would be a great fit, somehow, with UNMC, and before I knew it he’d arranged for her to be part of a Science Cafe in conjunction with Sean V. McGarry, M.D.,
Assistant professor in the UNMC Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation.

Don’t miss this one! It’s coming up on Tuesday, February 12th from 7:00-8:00 PM at The Slowdown.