Focus On Art
By Jackie Hodges
Again I left returning years later and heard the painting belonged to a
Mexican family who would
not part with it
Currently, Sid is still a handsome, slender man of 82 years. He has a full
head of beautiful white
hair. He is soft-spoken and it goes with his retiring modest nature.
Recently, I sat down to talk with Sid and urged him to tell me about his
art beginnings. Born in
New York City, Sid entered high school at the tender age of 12. Students
were required to choose an
extra curricular activity. Sid could find nothing he liked until he came
upon a quiet room with only two
boys. Sid wanted to be a writer, but because the room was quiet, he stayed.
The instructor gave him a
board, paint brushes and some paint and told him to paint what he wished.
When the instructor
returned and viewed what Sid had painted he told him to paint more. And
this was the beginning of
Sid’s art career.
His instructor was the head of the art department and also the principal of
the evening adult
education. It was depression years and the school was sponsored by the WPA.
Sid was the youngest
member of the class and could draw and paint as he pleased. Later, he was
told to go to another
room. No one was there when he arrived but woman in a robe. She said,
“What are you doing here,
sonny?” and proceeded to remove her robe. Sid was shocked and embarrassed
at this first encounter
with a nude live model, but his life drawings lasted through high school.
His painting consumed him
and he forgot about wanting a writing career.
Graduating, he obtained a position with the WPA to teach children and the
physically
handicapped but continued developing his artistic skills.
He married and moved to Washington D.C. where he attended Corcoran School
of Art painting in
different styles and receiving encouragement from his instructors. He
painted in the vibrant color
juxtapositions of the impressionists, landscapes and nudes and they began to
sell.
He tried painting in what he called, “visual jazz” produced when he watched
and listened to jazz
musicians. Once he showed his work to a jazz pianist and asked him for his
opinion. The man
scratched his head and replied, “Gee, man, I don’t know, but let me play it
for you.
Coming to visit Ajijic in the late ‘60’s he stayed and painted here. His
works here were never
focused on sales, rather he painted mostly for pleasure, changing his style
as he pleased. He
currently paints in mixed media in a post-modern style. He is a painter who
employs his skills as a
lush, lyrical, vastly talented painter.
Sid said he was proud to exhibit the works of two fine local artists,
Mitch Marr and Efren
Gonzales. Their works will hang in the Sellars-Schwartzman Galeria for
three weeks beginning
November 13th.
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