Elynne Rosenfeld

When my son was in nursery school I decided to go back to school toward a Masters in Family Therapy at what was then Hahnemann University. I was always a student of family dynamics and even though events in my own family precluded completion of the degree, the experience helped me sort through some of my own feelings about my path as an artist. I realized that no matter what I did I would still be driven to express myself in paint. And at that time, my motivation pulled me in a figurative, explorative direction.

Beginning The Beguine acrylic on canvas 30″ X 40″

Looking first at my parents’ wedding, I painted Beginning The Beguine, essentially a ‘dance of life’ featuring the main characters in the family drama prior to my existence. Taken from a black and white photo in their 1948 wedding album, I added playful colors and patterns to what I know were black dresses (the formal party costume of the time). I inserted a mural of Space Holes in place of the wallpaper actually in the photo, a sort of ‘fly on the wall’ gesture from the future. Though I would not enter their story for another six years, I shared their moment in retrospect.

Another group portrait was The Harvey Tarter Accordion Band, taken from a b/w photo of an accordion recital in which my sister and I performed on stage. At seven years old, the youngest member of the band, I was the one in white socks in front, refusing to smile. Music has always been a part of me but I hated everything about accordion and eventually convinced my parents that classical guitar was more my instrument. As an adult and parent I looked back upon this recital with the humor I could not muster then. I transformed the blue auditorium curtain into a ‘squiggle’ curtain and replicated the lavender pouffy dresses we all had to wear. I also found it amusing that the girls had either pink or gold accordions while the boys got to play black ones. What a coordinated effort! And one can only imagine what it must have sounded like!

Harvey Tarter Accordion Band  acrylic on canvas  24″ X 36″

Pozo’s Last Halloween is a portrait of my son (then 5) dressed as our cat. It is also a portrait of the cat, who died that year at 16…a year of passage in my family commemorated in that moment.

Pozo’s Last Halloween  acrylic on canvas 24″ X 36″