Artist Sharon Rubinstein and RubiSparksCommunications.com, Peekskill
Photo credit: Neal Rentz
Peekskill resident Sharon Rubinstein described herself last week as an artist who has had “different day jobs.”
“I am the daughter of an artist and I’ve been drawing and painting ever since I was a little girl,” Rubinstein said. “I’ve always identified as either a practicing artist or an artist on hiatus. But the idea of relating to the world with that kind of lens is part of who I think I am.”
Her productivity as an artist has not always been continuous since childhood but it has been significant, Rubenstein said. “I’ve never dropped it entirely,” she said. “I was a hobbyist when I wasn’t a day-to-day artist.”
A few years ago, she joined the Peekskill Arts Alliance, Rubinstein said. In 2018, the Jefferson Valley Mall was seeking donations of a painting by their creators. Rubinstein donated one of her paintings, a collage of the exterior and interior of the mall. That experience led to an agreement in which she paid rent for 2,100 square feet to the mall where she sold her works, Rubinstein noted.
The owners of the mall wanted to promote it as a destination and Rubinstein decided to do portrait paintings of those who visited the facility or had significance for the mall. Rubinstein did 14 paintings for the mall over a period of about 10 months. “They gave me some people they wanted captured and I suggested some other people,” Rubinstein said. She left the mall in February 2019.
Rubinstein specialized in creating portraits. “There’s definitely an interaction between artist and subject,” she said. “That to me is meaningful.”
Rubinstein has exhibited her works in a variety of venues, including a one-woman show in Annapolis, Maryland, which featured nearly 60 of her creations.
Her late mother, Helen, was a strong influence in her life, Rubinstein said. Her parents were survivors of the Nazi Holocaust. “My mom was a joyous and very talented human being, who inspired in me this love of art,” Rubinstein said. “Her work was all about beauty.”
“My mother had depth,” Rubinstein said. “Her paintings were a manifestations of her quite a beautiful spirit.” Rubinstein said her mother was a prize-winning artist and she showcased some of her mother’s work in Annapolis, Maryland.
Rubinstein was a communications director in Maryland for the non-profit Advocates for Children and Youth for about a decade. The former journalist is co-owner of RubiSparksCommunications.com. Her partner in the business is Leonard Sparks of Peekskill.
Even though she has had various jobs, Rubinstein has kept her passion for creating art. “It is a special experience producing art,” she said. “It’s not even how fantastic your work is. The process itself is a self-rewarding kind of thing. It’s a wonderful encounter with your own talents.”
For more information about Rubinstein’s artworks, visit https://yourcornerartist.com/. For more information about RubiSparksCommunications.com, visit its web site.
