If you ever wanted proof that age is only a state of mind, and it’s never too late to follow your passion, you only have to look to West Windsor’s Ina Brosseau Marx for inspiration. After wending her way through at least eight careers in her eight decades of life — including couture designer, author, lecturer, educator, and consultant — Marx is now enjoying new success as an award-winning artist.
“The world is changing, our country is changing, and our neighborhoods are changing,” says Marx. “Change comes up whether you like it or not, so you might as well change too and keep learning and embrace what you love or you are going to get swept away.”
Marx says it was only last year, in 2010, when she was turning 81, that she asked herself that perennial question, “If not now, when?” And thus she began to pursue her long-held dream of creating art with what she calls “found treasures” collected over a lifetime. She starting submitting her work to juried exhibitions in October, 2010, and has been accepted by every single one.
This past September, she received a cash prize for one of her three pieces exhibited in Morven Museum’s first outdoor show. “Rain Drops” features 18 crystals from a chandelier hung on fine sterling silver wire. The piece was displayed on a tree in the courtyard, the crystals glistening in the sunlight and swaying in the breeze.
In another honor, Marx’s piece “Quandary” was selected to be pictured on the October page of the upcoming 2012 Ellarslie calendar. It features an old, small ceramic doll sitting in a chair, mounted on an angled piece of wood with peeling paint.
“I have always been fascinated by shapes and form — especially of every-day objects — and the fact that our ‘throw-away’ society tosses these out so easily, without seeing them as creations in their own right,” says Marx. “It’s a tremendous ‘high’ for me to show these objects in settings that make a viewer really look at them, particularly when I combine them in unusual juxtapositions that cause viewers to think about them in new relationships.”
Marx, who is active in the West Windsor Arts Council, has one piece, “Shaman,” which incorporates old wood and old lock parts, in the Arts Council’s “Off the Wall” artisan sale and exhibit opening Saturday, December 3. She is also chairing the opening of the “Recylone!” exhibit at the Arts Council on Friday, January 13. That exhibit will feature her work as well as the work of two other artists, Eva Mantell and Eric Schultz, who also create whimsical and intriguing pieces of art from society’s discards. All three are described as “part cultural archeologists, part creative alchemists.” They use such items as wires, bones, magazines, coffee cups, slides, old pieces of wood, and other junkyard finds to create fascinating, often beautiful, works of art. Special programming during the show includes a “Restoration of Antiques and Reuse” lecture by Marx on Thursday, January 26.
The seeds of Marx’s artistic proclivity, but more importantly, her wide open attitude about life, were planted in her childhood by her parents, who raised her and her brother in four of the five boroughs in New York City, the last being Kew Gardens, Queens. Her father was in the leather business and was a manufacturer of women’s fine handbags.
“A woman’s idea of herself comes from her father,” says Marx, “and my father always treated me like a grownup. He would take me out to lunch and talk to me. It was a privilege to be so blessed. My mother was a pioneer. She was the first (among her friends) to drive, to play golf, and even to smoke though she stopped smoking. She was very beautiful. She sang, and people said she should go on stage. She was a lifelong learner. Her attitude was that life was exciting, and there were always things to do and learn.”
Marx says her mother passed that passion for learning to both her and her brother. Marx also developed the idea that hard work and attitude are more important than talent. “To me the word ‘talent’ is a cop-out,” she says. “It denigrates the motivation, discipline, and stick-to-it quality needed to achieve anything worthwhile. We were all artistic in different ways, with my elderly aunt still painting in her latter years.
“My philosophy is that everyone comes into this world with different kinds of artistic abilities. But whether we’re motivated to follow them or have those talents nurtured early on is another matter.”
Marx says her childhood was full of creativity and hands-on discovery that served as a prelude to her career in the art world. “I did lots of jigsaw puzzles and delighted in memorizing specific shapes that were needed, hunting for them, and then triumphantly pouncing on them and fitting them into place,” she says. “Also, I used my hands, thoughts, and all sorts of materials, either purchased or concocted, to create real or fantasy constructions. I remember being able to combine elements in unusual ways. Creating was so constant that it never occurred to me, or anyone else, to save the many ‘assemblages’ I did or at document them with photos. At least I’m still able to recall many of them in my mind’s eye.”
After attending high school in Queens, Marx continued her education in college as a studio arts major, and also studied art history. She coupled graduate courses in art history with the artisanship of painted surfaces given by Isabel O’Neil, considered the grande dame of the art of painted finishes. In 1974 Marx became the first recipient of the Master Restorer Award of the Isabel O’Neil Studio, one of only two Masters in Restoration ever bestowed by O’Neil.
Meanwhile, her personal life had taken an interesting turn, when a business associate of her father’s suggested she meet someone she worked with, a young man named Allen Marx.
“I remember our first date vividly,” says Marx. “It was July 7, a Thursday night, a gorgeous night in New York. He was tall, lean, and blue-eyed. We walked up Fifth Avenue and the attraction was so strong, it was electric. And somewhere in my depths, somebody was saying you need this guy. We sat on the steps of St. Thomas Church at 53rd and Fifth, and he said will you marry me, and I said yes. We met at a quarter to nine that night and by 11:30 we were engaged.”
They were married shortly after, and within two months, Marx was pregnant with their first baby, a son, followed by three more sons after that, all before she hit the age of 29. They raised their family in Great Neck, living there 31 years before moving to the Canal Pointe neighborhood of West Windsor in 1999. Marx and her husband have been married for 62 years and have six grandchildren.
“We wanted to be near Princeton to be near our grandchildren, and our 12 years in West Windsor have been the happiest 12 years I can remember,” says Marx.
Her husband was in the department store business but at the same time, also worked together with Marx and they both developed an international reputation in restoration and painted surfaces. Their first book, “Professional Painted Surfaces” (Random House, 1991) is based on the curriculum she developed. Their second book, “Furniture Restoration” (Random House, 2007) is based on the Marx’s work in restoration.
She and her husband are both previous board members of the West Windsor Arts Council, and she currently serves on its advisory board and exhibitions committee. Their work with the Arts Council gives them the perfect outlet for their continuing love affair with art.
“We are serving people who never thought they would be able to have something like the West Windsor Arts Council locally. It has been an enormous success, and it is such a treasure for the community. People are so dedicated.”
In 2002 the International Salon of Decorative Painters gave Marx a Lifetime Achievement Award, and she also has been awarded the Lifetime Membership in the Society of Gilders.
While the accolades are wonderful, Marx says that what truly keeps her going is the act of creating new things and the idea that you can constantly embrace what is new and challenging, no matter where you are in life. “What’s the point of living if you can’t keep learning and growing and adding to what you know?” she asks. “That’s the joy of living.”
Art Exhibit, West Windsor Arts Council, 952 Alexander Road, West Windsor. Saturday, December 3, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Off the Wall,” a juried artisan market of handcrafted pieces for sale. Includes work by Ina Brousseau Marx, Sarah Rhodes, and Lenora Kandiner, all West Windsor residents. The exhibit and sale continue to December 18. 609-716-1931 or www.westwindsorarts.org.
