Easels, paint palettes and buckets of brushes fill 10 long tables in the Jewish Home’s art room, an open, airy space with lots of natural light from large windows. Plenty of comfortable chairs are available, some spattered with long-dried drops of colorful paint that add to the room’s festive invitation to make art.
Edie Sadewitz, an avid golfer in her youth, sits beside a work depicting a vibrant golf scene, one of her recent paintings. Golf is a common theme in Sadewitz’s art, and some of her paintings have served as invitations to the Home’s annual tournaments.
“Golf was always my game, and before I moved here 13 years ago, I had never picked up a paint brush,” Sadewitz says. “Now my golf clubs are in the cellar and a paint brush feels natural in my hand.”
Sadewitz, 95, credits her interest in painting to the persistence — and the patience — of Gary Tanner, director of creative arts at the Jewish Home, a job he has held for 21 years. Tanner works one-on-one with residents who request such assistance, and helps others as needed.
“I have to twist arms to get some residents to start painting, but that’s OK because I’m a noodge,” Tanner says. “Some say they are too busy or not interested, but if I can get them to come to the art room just once, they start making time for it.”
Sarah Edwards is at an easel four days a week. A bright orange tulip at the center of her current work-in-progress draws immediate attention. “After I retired, I took up painting with a passion, and I’m still at it. What attracts me now is color, color, color!” says the 84-year-old, who has lived at the Jewish Home for four years.
Examining the edges of the tulip, Edwards spots a slight flaw. “We’re going to fix that,” she says. “Usually I paint ladies, but if I don’t have a lady in mind when I start, I paint flowers. Gary has lots of books where I can get ideas for different ones.”
Seated by a window, Rudy Hooremans displays his freshly painted copy of a work by Piet Mondrian, the Dutch painter famous for vivid renderings of geometric shapes.
“I got this image from the computer,” Hooremans says. “Before this, I finished a painting of bluebirds. I’m not sure what I will paint next, but this work gives me something to do with a tangible result.”
A retired architect, Hooremans, 91, had no intention of taking up painting when he moved in 13 years ago. “Gary made me,” he says, smiling broadly.
“I came in the art room to get stiff paper to make a card for my granddaughter, who was graduating from college,” Hooremans recalls. “When Gary saw my calligraphy, he invited me to start painting.” Now seven of Hooremans’ works hang in the entrance to the dining room.
According to Tanner, the goal is not so much art therapy as to provide an opportunity for residents to enjoy themselves. The art room, the adjoining gallery, Tanner’s office and the room housing a kiln measure more than 1,350 square feet, and each week about 40 to 60 residents stop by on a regular basis.
“As children, some of the residents got the message that they were not good at art,” Tanner says. “People carry these messages their entire lives, and never give themselves the opportunity to try again. When they do, it is so freeing for them to discover that not only can they do something, but do something very well.”
Ellen Marks-Hinkle and Gloria Houtenbrink both work in ceramics, using the kiln in the studio. Houtenbrink, 95, paints too, but she says she especially enjoys crafting colorful ceramic bowls in assorted shapes.
“I’ve made four as wedding gifts,” Houtenbrink says, “and I have two more to make.” She comes to the art room four days a week.
Displaying two bowls crafted from heart-shaped ceramic pieces affixed to one another, Marks-Hinkle smiles and says, “I’m in the heart business.” A retired speech and language pathologist, Marks-Hinkle, 72, confesses she likes her red bowl better than the pink one, which others seem to favor.
“I’ve made a lot of bowls in many different sizes, including a big popcorn bowl for my son,” she says. “I’ve given most of them away.” Marks-Hinkle also writes poetry for the residence’s magazine. “Inspiration always comes. Poems just pop into my head,” she says.
Fran Hament is another artist who also writes. “I’ve always scribbled, I’ve always painted and I’ve always sung,” she says.
A former community outreach teacher at the College of Marin, the 89-year-old Hament has lived at the Jewish Home for almost nine years. She has sold many of her paintings, some at the Home’s annual Hanukkah art sale.
Hament points out a poster in the art room that features a painting she did of two chefs. The poster was used to advertise a special event at the Home. Later, as Hament and Tanner look through a large stack of Hament’s work, Tanner remarks, “You’ve always had more ideas than you’ve had time to paint.”
Hament laughs and replies, “I come to the art room as often as I can — it’s a wonderful place. What’s not to like?”