Artist Statement

I have been painting since I was eleven years old when my second grade teacher inspired me. She gave me my first watercolor kit and I never looked back. I fell in love with watercolor from that moment on.

I have always been drawn to the shapes of the see and feel particularly connected with the conch and snail shells. The spiral a favorite image of mine is, of course, an integral part of these seashells. In many cultures the spiral is the symbol of rebirth and the regeneration of all living organisms. It is a very female, sensuous form an I have adopted the spiral as my personal icon. You will find it in almost all of my pictures.

I enjoy taking these unusually small natural objects and then blowing them up in size until they become abstractions. While working on these pictures, I find myself falling into their tiny "worlds" of texture and form. It is such a contemplative soothing activity for me that I hope the viewers of my pictures feel a similar sense of calm and fascination with these beautiful, complex objects.

In the last six years I have suffered several personal tragedies, starting with the death of my mother, then a year later my father, and then a year later my husband. The experience of grieving through all these deaths has enabled me to move in another direction in my work. Within the last two years I have been evolving a visual vocabulary that expresses my innermost feelings and enables me to come to grips with my own mortality and fears. The new pictures are rich in detail, soaked in color, and inhabited by my images. Sometimes these images are drawn from memories of the past, sometimes from dreams and sometimes from pictures that I have seen and remembered that resonate in meaning for me.

I have also been attracted to old fabric taken from clothing items of loved ones and have used some of the designs in the fabric as either borders or shapes in my pictures.
 
All of these visual interests have come together in this new style for me. It has been a wonderfully healing, therapeutic and regenerative process. My hope is that my pictures will convey some of what I have been through and also be restorative to those who view them. 

Biography

Ms. Cohen has been practicing her art for the past 46 years. She began painting with her first watercolor box when she was seven years old. Throughout her grade school and high school years she was drawn to expressing herself in watercolors and oils. She received several honors for her artwork in high school including a cash prize for a still life oil painting completed in her senior year.
 
From high school, Ms. Cohen went on to major in studio art at Douglass College, Rutgers University in New Jersey. After graduating with honors in art from Douglass, she went on to complete her masters in art and her teaching credential in art from the University of California at Berkeley.
 
The next seven years of her life were spent working and teaching in Australia where she had her first solo show in Darwin, the Northern Territory in 1978.

While in Australia, Ms. Cohen's choice of media continued to be watercolors and oils. Because she lived so close to the sea, she became fascinated with shells and other marine life and created a series of images devoted to these subjects. She also became enamored of Aboriginal art and made a series of work in which she melded her visual symbols with that of the Aboriginal artists.
 
Her color palette during these years was very muted and dominated by natural colors because of her close observation of forms from nature. Her goal was to create little visual jewels by depicting very intricate sea shapes but blowing them up until they became abstract. She also hoped that her pictures would be soothing and contemplative reflections of the complex objects that she collected at the beach.
 
In recent years, Ms. Cohen has been moving away from her concentration on sea shapes and has begun incorporating these shapes into larger images that evoke her internal life. Along with the continued presence of the conch and other spiral shells in her pictures there are now included - dream images, images in family photos, and pictures from books. Her palette has become brighter and more lively as well.
 
She has been in several shows in the past few years including the Hoboken Artist Studio Tours, St. Lucy's Homeless Shelter Benefit Shows in Jersey City, at the Hoboken Barnes Barnes and Noble, Secret Ingredient, Hoboken Gourmet, and the Hoboken Art Show.

Art Shows - (Solo/Group) March, 2004 January, 2004 December, 2003 October, 2003 May, 2003 May, 2003 January, 2003 December 2002 June 2002 May 2002 Nov. 28 - Dec. 22, 2001 Oct. 1999/00 Oct. 1998/99/00 Oct. 2000 May 99/ Sept, 00 Nov.1998 1978 Education 1980/85 1973 1972 1970 Honors and Awards 1970 Associations & Memberships Jan 2002 /Present Jan 2000 /Present 1980/Present		Group Show HOB'ART, Symposia, Hoboken, NJ Group Show HOB'ART, Symposia, Hoboken, NJ Group Show HOB'ART, Hoboken, NJ Solo show Ceres Gallery, 547 W 27th St., NY, NY HOB'ART show Secaucus Center for the Arts, Secaucus, NJ Hoboken Spring Arts and Music Festival, Hoboken, NJ HOB'ART show, PNC Bank, Hoboken, NJ Hallelujah 02 show, the Ceres Gallery, New York, NY Group show, the Ceres Gallery, New York, NY Group show; the Nexus Gallery, New York, NY Solo show; the Nexus Gallery, New York, NY St. Joseph's Shelter Art Show, Jersey City, NJ Hoboken Artist's Studio Tour, Hoboken, NJ Hoboken Gourmet, Hoboken, NJ Barnes & Noble, Hoboken, NJ The Secret Ingredient Hoboken, NJ Solo show, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia ABD - New York University, New York City, NY 45 credits University at Berkeley, California Elementary Teaching Credential - Grades K-8 University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA - M.A. Fine Arts Douglas College, Rutgers University - B.A. - Studio Art Graduated with High Honors from Douglas College Ceres Gallery, New York City, NY Nexus Gallery, New York City, NY National Art Educators Association NAEA
Teaching Experience 1980/Present Positions: Position: Position: Position: Position: Personal Profile D.O.B.: Marital Status:		Oak Knoll School, 44 Blackburn Road - Summit, NJ 07901 908-522-8120 Art Teacher ~ Grades K – 6 Science Teacher Grades 5&6 Faculty Development Coordinator After School Adventures Coordinator (1985-87) S.E.E.D. Facilitator (1996/present Battle Hill School, Union, NJ Art Teacher - Grades K - 6 Nhulunbuy Area School, Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia Special Education Teacher St. Brigid's School, Perth West, Perth West Australia, Australia Compensatory Education Teacher - Grade 2 North Fitzroy School, North Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia Art Teacher - Grade 2 March 22, 1948 Widow, One Child - Jake - 17 years old Health: Excellent