A very special show will be on exhibit at the Cosmopolitan Club in Philadelphia next month. My mosaics will be shown along with by my mom’s (Fran Silberfeld) paintings and pastels and my daughter’s (Brienne Rosner) jewelry and mixed media wall pieces.
My initial connection with the Club was through MSOP. One of their gallery committee members saw my “Breathe” piece at the annual show in Chestnut Hill in March 2022. She invited me to participate in a rotating exhibit showcasing three other artists. Wondering if this was something I should pursue, I forwarded her email to Brienne. Her response was, “Maybe they want to do a mother/daughter show. “The committee loved the idea. Since that time the show has taken on a new meaning,
Last spring Brienne and I were visiting my 100-year-old mother. She was looking around her room, filled with her paintings, and asked” What is going to happen to all my work when I’m gone?” I answered, “We will have a show!”. She got very excited and we began to plan it. Having hung many shows and coordinated numerous artist receptions she wanted to know where it would be, who would be invited, and what we would serve. We went along with her fantasy, not realizing it would become a reality.
Painting by Fran Silberfeld
She passed away this past February, just after her 101st birthday. When I knew her life was coming to an end I thought about what we would do with her belongings. Her paintings were her prized possessions. I kept what I had room for and gave close family and friends what they wanted. There were still some left and I remembered the mother/daughter show. I contacted the club and they thought it was a most touching idea. Although Mom was not very responsive at that point, I told her my plan. I believe she understood and was very pleased. That was the last time I saw her smile.
Preparing for the show has given me the opportunity to reflect on the importance art has played in our lives, the strong connection it has fostered between our 3 generations, and the influence that genetics and exposure have on what we pursue in life.
My mother was born and raised in the Bronx. Her childhood was very different from mine. Her immigrant mother, a single parent, was neither educated nor cultured. However, she was a wonderful seamstress, embroidered beautifully, and could knit and crochet anything,
After graduating high school, Fran helped her mother run her fur business during the day and attended classes at night. Her love for color and painting began at Columbia University. She continued studying drawing and painting throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s at various schools in NYC. She taught painting and drawing in several adult education schools and exhibited in many solo and group juried shows including the Newark, Trenton, Morris and Whitney museums, and many colleges and libraries. She was a founding pioneer and trustee of the Art Center of Northern New Jersey.
Clock by Marcy Rosner
I don’t think I truly appreciated my mother’s uniqueness, artistic talents, and art in general until I was an adult. Our house was filled with her paintings and pastels on the walls, her cousin’s ceramics, and lots of large of art books. I think my friends appreciated her more than I did. They loved the smell of oil paint when they came into our house; I disliked the strong odor. She enrolled me in children’s classes and bought me paper and paints. When I was about nine, she had one of my pictures framed and hung it in her bedroom. I was embarrassed; she thought it was wonderful and free. She put a clay horse I made on a shelf in our entranceway. I hoped nobody would notice it because the nose wasn’t straight. My mom, being an abstract artist, thought it was great. She schlepped me to museums, where I would grow bored and impatient while she stood in front of a Matisse for what seemed like hours trying to explain to a child why he painted as he did.
My father was creative in a different way. He would have liked to be a professional sports commentator, but had to support his family so worked in the business world instead. He was the creative writer and named all my mother’s paintings. I was very surprised when I cleaned out my mom’s apartment and found the detailed journals with descriptions and drawings, she kept during all her travels She was never without a sketchbook in her purse. She always thought and identified herself as an artist. My father would be driving and as she marveled at a view, she would say to us “Look, it t’s just like a painting,” (and add to my father “But not you Vic.”. To this day, our family jokingly uses that phrase when driving through beautiful scenery (but usually add “As Fran would say”.
Shoe by Marcy Rosner
I did realize growing up that I too carried the “art gene”. I much preferred a writing paper or creating a 3-D project to taking a test. I always signed up for arts and crafts in camp rather than sports and archery if given the choice. I made my own clothes, learning to sew in high school in home economics. I got more creative in college, making skirts out of old jeans and embroidering on everything. Once married, I tried out numerous crafts from macramé to weaving. I decorated a doll house my husband built and electrified. I needlepointed miniature rugs, made pillows out of grandmother’s fabric she used to line coats, and sewed curtains from vintage lace. It was quite an obsession as I dragged my family to dollhouse stores whenever we traveled. Eventually I discovered mosaics which became my longest lasting medium and true passion. When you asked my mother what color something was, she would answer something like “cerulean blue”. I look at pretty glass and china and want to break it. But I never wanted to paint.
Brienne has the art gene on both sides of her family. Her paternal grandmother was a painter and crafter. Her aunt made jewelry. Her father, a surgeon, made a few pieces of jewelry and furniture when he had time and always appreciated handcrafts. Our home was also filled with original artwork., mostly from family members. I naturally enrolled her in art classes at Perkins as a child, and at Moore College in high school. By the time she was born, I loved going to museums with my husband and we took both our children often. She much preferred creating art to playing sports. Although we supported her decision to major in art in college, we suggested graphic design as it seemed like a more marketable career. It didn’t take her long to switch her major at Boston University where she earned a BFA in Painting with a minor in Art History. I believe it was during those years that her bond with her grandma Fran became so strong.
Jewelry by Brienne Rosner
Brienne seems to have inherited the best of all of us. She combines sewing and painting in her mixed media pieces. She has her father’s strong fine motor skills and keen attention to detail. He has passed on his smart business sense, which has allowed her to have a successful career as the gallery and craft’s fair director at Peter’s Valley School of Craft and her current position as the Managing Director of the Society of American Goldsmith’s (SNAG).
We are looking forward to the opening of our show on November 7, 2023. Brienne and I will both be speaking at the opening reception on November 9 at about 5:15. If you are unable to attend, arrangements can be made to view the show until December 27.
For further directions and details visit https://www.cosclub.org/Gallery/Coming_Up_Next
To see more of my mosaics visit https://www.mosaicsbymarcy.com
For more information about Brienne visit https://www.briennerosner.com
Jewelry by Brienne Rosner