We Six, a group of six women in their 70s and 80s who met at the MV Senior Center art club and bonded during the pandemic, paint in acrylics and pastels with subjects varying from landscapes to portraits to still life.
The members’ – Wanda Lee, Carol Sidel and Shirley Stevens from Los Altos, Nora Mazzara and Pat Reid-Purt from Mountain View and Lynda Lumish from Palo Alto – friendship and artistic skills have grown in the past six years, resulting in a collection of artwork that is being showcased at the Los Altos Library through May 31.
Lee grew up in a Chinese American family in Hawaii. Her father led the way by painting in watercolor and drawing cartoons as hobbies. He taught Wanda how to draw horses by seeing geometric shapes and visualizing perspective. He also encouraged her to take art classes. After she retired from a professor position at San Francisco State University, she started taking art classes again.
Lumish started copying an art painting book her neighbor gifted her and attended Art and Design High School in Manhattan, where she learned all the regular subjects but concentrated on art. Mazzara was born in New York City to Italian parents and an artistic family. She cited her sister and mother as early influences for her love of art and discovered a passion for sculpture. She worked in Florida as a nurse for 15 years before moving to California. Reid-Purt is a native San Franciscan who moved to Mountain View when she was 8 years old. Reid-Purtworked for an international publishing company and ran their West Coast office. She enjoyed sketching and sold her painted rocks at crafts stores.
Sidel grew up in Massachusetts and was a research biochemist and helped her husband’s consumer research business until retirement. She loved to paint and sketch as a child.
Stevens grew up in Santa Rosa. Her interest in painting started with an art minor in college and she continued incorporating art in her career as an elementary school teacher for more than 30 years in the Sunnyvale School District.
The members of We Six have distinctive artistic styles. Lee uses pastel and her passion is color and composition with the French Impressionists as her favorite. Lumish switched to acrylic painting after many years of clay sculpture, and her favorite subjects are portraits and pets as she loves illustrating her subjects by studying their eyes. Mazzara’s work often celebrates music, movement and connection. Reid-Purt began painting flowers, bugs and animals on rocks and made pet tombstones her specialty; she now enjoys painting scenes rich in color, contrast and texture. Sidel takes a photorealism approach using acrylics and focuses on landscapes from her travels and natural subjects. Stevens also enjoys painting from her travel photos and is inspired by nature.
“Having my art friends at the senior center is important to me,” Lumish said.
During every meeting, one of the women brings music to keep all calm and less noisy; someone else brings donuts and they get the best of another’s garden. The women have experienced aging, illness and death in the past few years and care for each other deeply. Nora lost a sister but said she has gained five sisters from the group. The sisterhood of paint brushes continues to be an important part of the women’s lives and they stick to their Wednesday painting sessions, rain or shine.
The painting club meets 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday at the Mountain View Senior Center, 266 Escuela Ave. Drop-ins are welcome.
