FAIRFIELD – The expo hall of the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center was filled with hundreds of people Friday night who had come to show their appreciation for one of the town’s greatest artist, art teacher and historian: Mark Shafer.

The Mark Shafer Memorial Event was not just an opportunity to honor Shafer, who taught art for 34 years in the Fairfield Community School District, but was also a fundraiser for a couple of projects. One of those is a scholarship that will go toward a fine arts scholarship for a Fairfield High School senior pursuing a degree in the arts. The other is a planned outdoor art installation in Shafer’s honor that will be erected on the east lawn of the FACC.

In fact, Friday was the public’s first chance to see a miniature model of that art installation. Copies of the model were placed on every table, and they depicted eight selections from Shafer’s artworks, four on each side of the two-sided structure, which will measure 7 feet tall. The art installation was designed by David Kraemer, a member of the committee that planned this event and the art teacher at Fairfield High School.

Money for the fundraisers came from ticket sales to the event, as well as a live auction and silent auction. The auctions combined featured nearly 60 pieces of art, including four from Shafer himself.

Susan Shafer, Mark’s wife of 50 years, said one of her friends asked her if it was difficult to part with some of her husband’s paintings.

“I told her that Mark was an artist for 60 years, so I have plenty of artwork in my house,” Susan said. “I did choose carefully what to donate.”

Susan mentioned that Mark painted a picture of himself as a little boy, sitting on his grandfather’s lap. That painting still hangs in the Shafers’ living room.

“That is a quintessential Mark picture,” Susan said. “I would never part with that.”

Susan said she was glad to see the community come out Friday to honor her husband, and she thanked the Fairfield Art Association for collaborating on the creation of the art installation.

“David Kraemer and Suzan Kessel started working on that right away,” Susan said of the sculpture. “It’s a beautiful concept.”

The Mark Shafer Memorial Event Committee was formed in May, and met nearly monthly to organize this event.

“The first person I asked to be on it was Alissa Ward, because I knew that if I got her, she had the experience to make this successful,” Susan said.

Susan said she appreciated Mandie Hickenbottom-Conner stepping forward to be Friday’s master of ceremonies, and for Mark’s close friends in the Templeton Templars doing a toast in his honor, which included providing a bottle of champagne to every table.