Annual ‘Art After 75’ Exhibit Had Inspired Start
At 99 years old, Kent resident E. Nobles Lowe remains just as enthusiastic today about the Art After 75 show at the Putnam Arts Council that he founded with his wife Maggie, close to two decades after it was first established.
The annual juried exhibit, which will return to the Belle Levine Arts Center this year after being shown at the Putnam Hospital Center for the past two years, celebrates the artistic creativity and talents of both emerging and seasoned senior citizen artists and will kick-off with an opening reception to be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 20.
A lifelong art-lover and amateur photographer, Lowe was inspired to create the exhibit after having done the same for a photographer in New York City.
Many years ago, after having spotted eye-catching photographs in the storefront window of a deli, he learned the pieces were the work of a woman named Atlanta Constance Sampson who lived in the apartments above. In addition to the photos on display, she had 1,500 more in storage.
“There was no recognition of people beyond a certain age in the art world at that time,” Lowe said. “I put on a show for her and each year there is a show dedicated to her in New York City.” Lowe, an attorney who represented many famous and commercial photographers, has a photography collection numbering in the hundreds with 70 gracing the walls on his home.
“I’m sitting right here looking at them,” he said from his home, describing the fruit still-life lithograph that once hung in his mother’s home; a photo of a white hen in a chicken coop; and a framed cover photo from a sports magazine depicting a reknowned swimmer. “I could tell each story of each photo: how I got it and why the photographer took it.”
Every year at the Art After 75 exhibit, Lowe said he and his wife enjoy adding to their collection.
The exhibit, which also has received wide support through sponsorships from Nancy Dill and Mahopac National Bank, has a special place in Putnam Arts Council Executive Director Joyce Piccone’s heart.
“It’s not that they can. It’s that they must create. It’s a celebration of that,” Piccone said of the three dozen regional artists over the age of 75 who will participate in the show. “I’m so glad that people continue to be so interested and productive. The need to create…and the need to share. I admire that.”
With this show having grown from a single inspiration into what is now a long-held tradition, Lowe wants to find new ways to celebrate artists of a certain age.
“I have always wanted a program for 9 over 90,” Lowe said, and he has a new idea to exhibit the work of 10 artists over 100. “I thrive on old age.”
The Art After 75 exhibit will be on display until Friday, June 15 at the Belle Levine Arts Center located at 521 Kennicut Hill Road in Mahopac.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.