EngAGE Stories

“Harry Steinberg is 103 years old and lives in Los Angeles, dedicating daily time to the creation of his playful ceramic characters. Steinberg was medically trained as a nose, throat and ear specialist and worked in the field during World War II, aiding the wounded and bearing witness to the horrors of war. Steinberg continued his medical practice when he returned home and, with the encouragement of his wife, artist Claire Hanzakos, took up ceramics on the weekend. Upon retirement, he dedicated more time to making art in his backyard ceramic studio and found his creative voice. His sculptures of people, animals and totems evoke spirits and characters–seemingly drawn from an inexplicable basis beyond the ordinary–that encapsulate his humor and joy. This will be Steinberg’s first solo show and includes 103 of his ceramic creations.”

The Good Luck Gallery, 945 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles ~ March 15th through April 12th.

“Albert Contreras, who was born during Franklin Roosevelt’s first term as President, is a lean and cheerful man around eighty years old. He lives and works in a small apartment two blocks from the Pacific Ocean. At least once a day he walks down to the water to look at what’s going on – joggers, surfers, bicyclists, sunbathers and people walking their dogs. The rest of the time he seems to stay in his apartment, happily working.”

Contreras initially found success as a painter in Stockholm, Sweden, in the 1960s. His art then was focused on circles. “They were very serious,” he said. The circles he painted became smaller and smaller until the canvas became, in his words, “blank.” So he stopped painting in 1972 and moved back to LA. He was in his mid-60s when he took up painting again, in 1997, after a hiatus of twenty-five years during which time he worked for the city as a trash truck driver. Click here for a visit to his Santa Monica studio and a look at his latest art.