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Aging Artfully:Profiles of 12 Visual and Performing Women Artists 85-105

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"Aging Artfully" honors women artists, musicians and dancers living with zest well past their octogenarion years. Each tells her life story, and each story is enhanced with poems and and photos. Meet the painter, rug braider, pianist, dancers, sculptor, Ikebana artist, actor, singers, storytellers. Introduce this book into your family. It is for youngsters and elders alike. A special treat included in the back of the book is Frances Kandl's CD, "7 Songs of Women," a celebration of original compositions written to honor some of the artists.
"Aging Artfully" is a lovely book and a gift from Author Amy Gorman to us all.

"Aging Artfully: 12 Profiles: Visual & Performing Women Artists Aged 85-105" is Amy Gorman's wonderful celebration of twelve remarkable women and their long-lived artistic creativity. In "Aging Artfully" Gorman selects twelve especially talented and accomplished women of the San Francisco Bay Area and tells their stories interlaced with poems, photos, and enhanced by songs composed and performed in honor of seven of the twelve by Francs Kandl. From Madeline Mason, 104 year old sculptor and doll maker, to 84-year old Rosa Maria Morales Escobar, singer and Folklorico dancer, to Dorothy Takahashi Toy, tap dancer of 89 years, to Mary Beth Washington aka Orunamamu, storyteller and snake handler aged 95 years, to Frances Dunham Catlett, painter aged 98 years, here are amazing portraits of creative women aging artfully. A companion DVD, "Still Kicking," by Greg Young follows the life stories of 6 of the 12 women and also includes Grace's song, written by Frances Kandl for Grace Gildersleeve, 94 year old weaver of rugs. Here is a remarkable collaboration to illustrate the power of involvement in the arts. "Aging Artfully" is such an uplifting experience, it should be shared with persons of many ages and occupations. It is certainly inspiring to meet Lily Hearst, for example, who at age 107 practices piano scales and chords over an hour daily, and performs pieces such as Chopin's "Fantasie Impromptu" and Mozart's "Turkish March" just for fun. These are wonderful women, extraordinary women, but they are also women who are used to making the best of their lives and keeping on getting on with it, despite hardships, setbacks, and sorrows. "Aging Artfully" is a book to be treasured and to be shared.

"Slow down," one of my children may tell me; sometimes, I even say it to myself.

Forget it!

The great message of this book is "Keep going--full tilt."

Consider Dorothy Toy, 88, with a dance class full of high school girls, or Lily Hearst at the piano practicing her scales before she tackled Chopin, all this before her students arrive. Lily didn't like teaching youngsters--she insisted that they be at least 70. It makes sense, since when Lily taught her students, she was 105 herself. Dorothy and Lily are but two of the inspiring women whose stories enliven the pages of this fascinating book.

Author Amy Gorman, along with her colleague, Frances Kandl, became intrigued with women artists who continued to pursue their art into their later years. Amy was so intrigued, that in 2006 she interviewed twelve of them, all but one 85 or older, who lived in or near Berkeley, California. The interviews and these women became this book, which is itself an inspiration.

The women followed many muses: Lily, music; Dorothy, dance; the well-named Stella Toogood Cope told stories, as did Orunamanu (Mary Beth Washington). There are painters, singers, a doll maker, a rug braider and an Ikebana artist as well. Despite the differences in craft and life story among the women, the author noted many similarities: they accepted the limitations of age without complaint and they "continued to do their art no matter what."

As my own clock ticks along (whose does not?), I find inspiration in each story. These women can serve as models for all of us. It would be a fine book to share with older women's groups, not only to encourage the participants but also to serve as a catalyst for the sharing of their own stories. This book also deserves a place in the larger field of women's history, for while each woman was living her later years in California, their stories spanned three centuries and several continents. Lily began her life in Austria, where with her sister, she pioneered skiing for women--and wore pants to do it! Stella began her storytelling career on the radio in England, while Madeline, the doll maker, was a pioneering African-American nurse in New York. Dancer Rosa Maria traces her family back to the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico, and dancer Dorothy, American born with Japanese heritage, spent the Second World War in her parents' homeland. Such diversity, such a wealth of personal creativity. If these women are all in Berkeley, I wonder about the women around me!

A bonus comes with this book. Frances Kandl composed seven songs about the women interviewed here. She performed them as a salute to the women; a compact disc is included with the book.

This is a book to appreciate and share.

by Patricia Nordyke Pando
for Story Circle Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviews

It's so nice to find inspirational women role models for creative aging. As a former actress and singer, I have promised myself that I would some day go back to my earlier career in the theater. If I had any doubts that it was too late to do that, this book has put those doubts to rest! Pamela D. Blair, Author The Next Fifty Years: A Guide for Women at Mid-Life And Beyond

Amy Gorman's book inspires me. Just as I thought I was too old to be serious about my art, always waiting in the shadows of my work life, I have discovered, with the help of this book, that art and aging are great company with which to journey forward toward the rest of my life. As I read about these women's lives and how their art propels them day by day, I see how art provides a thread, that, in spite of gray hair, and other signs of aging, helps one meet each day with interest and joy.

In a time when growing old is often equated with giving up, Amy Gorman has proved that life can be fun and enjoyable even into our very late years. Gorman's book, Aging Artfully explores the lives and art of 12 elderly women. These women are painters, musicians, dancers, storytellers and sculptors who have who have lived fascinating lives. I read this book in 2 days, mesmerized with each woman's story.

As a former geriatric caseworker, I wish I had read this book long ago. So often we hear about sick and frail elderly, but we need to remember that there are plenty of people out there living a full life as they approach (and sometimes surpass) the triple-digit mark. Aging Artfully is truly an inspiring book.

I highly recommended this book for anyone interested in the arts, biographies, aging studies, and related non-fiction.

Aging Artfully explores a connection between longevity and creative expression in a tribute to twelve highly individual women of the San Francisco Bay Area, ages 85 to 105. These vibrant women of varied backgrounds talk to the author, Amy Gorman, about their lives and their passion to express their unique gifts in painting, music, dance, storytelling, rug-making, and Ikebana. Gorman's collaborator on the project, Frances Kandl, has written seven songs based on the lives of some of these women; a CD of these songs is included with the book, which also contains many photographs.


The stories of these women, largely told in their own words, present the reader with hard-earned wisdom about overcoming adversity and grief, and provide powerful models of the possibilities of a productive and satisfying old age. Amy Gorman has given a great gift to these women and to the world by spotlighting their inspiring lives. Aging Artfully is a book to enhance the lives of readers of all ages.

This is a beautiful book that excites me about aging. I am 70 years old, love the creative process in myself and can now see how it can keep me active and excited about life for years and years. It is well written. I wish there were more photos of better quality of the women and their creative products when the arts are visual. I plan to buy it for several friends who I know will enjoy it as much as I do. It's the kind of book one can go back to over and over.

Great book, easy to read. CD is a little over the top and bizarre though.

"Aging Artfully" is Amy Gorman's inspiring and touching rejoinder to the pervasive idea that age is some sort of wasteland. Gorman--who "woke up one morning, age was on my mind," interviews 12 women who by any measure are very old--85-105--and yet are deeply engaged in the visual and performing arts. She finds that the arts have become so much a part of these old women that "the art and the person have merged," that in the face of declining strength, it is their art, in fact, that keeps them going. In an unusual touch, Gorman's heartfelt profiles are complemented with music, songs composed by her colleague Frances Kandl, whose CD is included with the book. Kandl composed these special songs in response to the spirit of seven of the 12 women; they are performed by--the Crones' Kwartet! Some of the women have always been involved in the arts, others discovered them late in life, and as each tells us her story, we see how the lives of all of them are enriched thereby. These women have a lot to tell us -- it's up to us to hear them.