Hospice of Santa Barbara welcomes local artist Margaret Singer, who will display her art at the Leigh Block Gallery located within Hospice of Santa Barbara beginning on August 12, 2015.
Singer, 94, began painting as a child and began taking art classes following her arrival in America after leaving Nazi Germany. Singer turned to painting, using it as a journal to chronicle stages in her life, including the hostile times in Germany.
"With the coming of the Nazis, a sense of malaise pervaded our lives. Children threw stones at us, calling us names. Jewish people began to disappear," says Margaret Singer about her childhood in Frankfurt, Germany. Margaret, her sister Paula and her brothers Sidney and Henry fled to America. And so began her decades long career in painting.
"All the years that I've been painting, I paint the same subjects... the people walking, marching and faces that haunt me," said Singer.
With her artwork reflecting her thoughts, other artwork has turned to celebrating the beauty of the nature and universe around her. Singer chose to name the exhibit “Celebrations,” as she is grateful to have made it past her 94th birthday and believes life and the universe are good.
Singer’s artwork has been featured at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art – under former Museum Director Donald Bear – as well as Gallery 113, the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara, Abstract Art Collection, the Santa Barbara Art Association and numerous shows. She has taught figure and landscape painting through Santa Barbara City College’s adult education program for 20 years.
On Wednesday, August 12 from 5:30 to 7 p.m., Hospice of Santa Barbara will host a wine and hors d’oeuvres open house reception for the new exhibit.
Singer will donate 25% of the proceeds from her art sales to Hospice of Santa Barbara, Inc., a volunteer hospice organization.