Samantha Wendell with her portrait of Johnny Winter (one of many rock artists she has painted) at the colony’s first art exhibit, “Reimagining Life.”
Thea Saks is a young artist whose company, The Mighty Squirm, specializes in apparel and art prints with designs inspired by folklore and historical periods of interest, especially the 19th century. When she went to NoHoSAC, not only was she pleasantly surprised to enjoy the art show she reviews below, but she also discovered that her expectations about senior artists (expectations shared by many) were a bit off the mark. In her words:
“When I went to the NoHo Senior Arts Colony last week to cover the current photography show, I wasn’t all that psyched to go. The show was open to photographers of all ages, and I expected a community free-for-all. I ended up not only admiring the dynamic photography and the professional way it was presented, but also getting interested in everything that’s happening at this place.
“One series of photographs depicts a graffiti artist at work on a building—cooler than I expected for a show at a senior center (shame on me—but it’s the truth). It turns out that the photographer, Tyrone Polk, is himself a senior in residence at the colony. And the more I talked to Amanda Talbot, the program manager for the colony, and Maureen Keller-Taylor, chief operating officer of EngAGE (more about EngAGE below), the better I understood that many of the residents are professionals of great reputation in the arts who are still hard at work in their fields of expertise and happen to be 62 or older (that’s a requisite for living at the colony).”
Read her complete review here. And thanks, Thea!
