Florence Tarantino is an award-winning painter of landscapes. She couldn’t say that a few months ago. In fact, a few months ago she had never painted a picture in her life.
Tarantino learned to paint in the Wednesday morning art class at the Senior Center in Secaucus, from instructors Diana Saha Albert and Tina Kirvin. Working from a photograph of a town in Italy, she painted her first picture ever and entered it in the Hudson County 2015 Senior Art Show on June 24.
The painting was awarded first place in the category of acrylic paintings. As a top winner it will now be traveling to Trenton for a statewide exhibition.
Of the 11 Secaucus seniors to enter the show, seven won awards for their work.
“I always wanted to learn to paint but I didn’t have the time,” said another Secaucus senior, resident Su Mei. “I didn’t have the money. Now I have time.”
Mei first wandered into the Senior Center for a St. Patrick’s Day lunch and discovered the free art classes. Enthusiastically joining in, she has created a number of surprisingly accomplished paintings, and was one of the winners in the Senior Art Show.
Getting busy
“We had a blank wall,” said Kirvin, one of the two teachers. “And when I see a blank wall, I get busy.”
The wall was in the back room of the Senior Center. With the blessing of the center administrators, Kirvin and Albert painted a mural on the wall, a pastoral scene taken from photographs of Mill Creek Point.
That spread to other wildlife paintings on other walls in the building. “We painted them in order to give the seniors something to look at other than beige walls,” said Kirvin. That was about a year and a half ago.
Right around that same time, the staff at the Senior Center asked the two women if they’d be willing offer instruction to the town’s seniors. “We wanted to do something in the arts and crafts department for the seniors and these two ladies are just fantastic artists who volunteered to teach them,” said Judy Kennelly, administrative assistant at the Senior Center. “We started with two seniors and now we’re up to almost 20.”
“I always wanted to learn to paint but I didn’t have the time. I didn’t have the money. Now I have time.” –Su Mei
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Albert has been painting since she was 10 and prefers acrylics. “When I was a kid I just loved painting,” she said. “I took a few lessons at the Art Students’ League but I’m mostly self-taught.” Now 80 years old, she won multiple awards for pieces she entered in the Senior Art Show.
The two instructors first got together at a town-sponsored art show in Buchmuller Park about three years ago. “I met Diana and admired her work, and she said, ‘Let’s get together to paint,’ ” said Kirvin. And so they did.
Both of them have high praise for Secaucus as a town that supports the arts, through art shows, classes, and projects like the murals throughout the municipality. “It’s wonderful,” said Kirvin. “It’s nice that they encourage people to try it. If you’ve never done it, try it. What does it hurt? If you don’t like it, put it down. Try something else. But you may find that it’s great.”
Budding artists
Lee Udcoff lives in The Elms senior housing building. She was introduced to the Wednesday art classes a couple of months ago by her neighbor, Albert. “She lives in my building,” said Udcoff. “She told me about it so we come together every Wednesday. She teaches me.”
Previously Udcoff liked to crochet. Now, “I started to paint. I’m not professional but I enjoy it.”
Sharon Kramer joined the group only a month ago and has been working on her portrait skills, copying the master, John Singer Sargent. She has dabbled in art off and on for decades, having taken classes in the past at the Montclair Museum of Art.
“I’m very glad to have found this because I’ve been looking for an art class,” she said. “I need the energy of people. I have all these painting materials at home. Every 10 years I do it for a week and I put it down.”
Kramer loves the class and finds Albert an inspiration. “She’s very supportive. You really feel it. She’ll have a little idea for you, not negating what you’re doing but adding to it.”
Maureen McDonald agrees. “The teacher’s very good,” she said. “I feel very comfortable with her. She gives you hints but you don’t feel intimidated.”
Having joined the group about two months ago, McDonald has been painting copies of nature photographs, including one she submitted to the art show “I like butterflies,” she said. “I figure they’re easy for me to paint as a beginner. And they are colorful. I feel like I’m in kindergarten class and I’m sitting with all college grads. But I love it. And before you know it the time is up. The class is from 9 to 12 and it goes very fast. Because you focus and yet we can talk with one another and socialize. And everybody in the class is very, very nice and very supportive.”
Classes take place every Wednesday morning in the Senior Center, 101 Centre Avenue. All Secaucus seniors are invited to attend for free.
Art Schwartz may be reached at arts@hudsonreporter.com.