Derry Hill
Home Of The H.C. Auletta Clan
The Marjorie Zinkand Gallery
Oil Paintings, Watercolors, Etc.
Marjorie Jane Auletta Yarotzkey York Zinkand, November 14, 2000. This is a photo Mom sent to Jessica for Christmas 2000. Photo provided by Marje.
My mother loves to paint. She's painted all her life. She probably grew up watching her father paint, just as I grew up watching her paint. She taught me everything I know about art, as well as all of my brothers, and many of my cousins. Some of my happiest memories are sitting around the kitchen table at the Cabin, surrounded by tubes of oil paint, the smell of turpentine and linseed oil drifting across the room, painting away on a small, stiff canvas-board. No TV for us. Or Nintendo or Xbox. We painted for our entertainment. Imagine that. And did it almost every night. Unless we were playing poker. I also remember our frequent trips into Walpole to pick up art supplies. We'd stop off at the bank, either put money in or take it out, then walk over to the small, little red art store, and browse its aisles. I can't remember the woman’s name who owned it, but I can still see her face. And I remember the smell of her store. Old buildings in New England just have a certain aroma about them, especially when they're filled with oils and paints and camel hair brushes.
My mother will turn 84 in a few weeks (on June 15, 2008), and she is still going strong. I think the only time she put away her easel was when her kids were born. Once Blayde was old enough to get into the art supplies she had to stop. She took it up again when I was old enough not to - probably four or five, maybe six years old. Looking back, it would have been a span of only about 10 or 11 years, but it must have seemed like an eternity to someone burning with the artistic spirit. She mentioned it often while we were growing up.
Marjorie Jane Auletta Yarotzkey York Zinkand, approx. 1944. Photo provided by Dan.
Mom displays her work in local art shows regularly. She’s a member of the local artist’s group up in Olivebridge, New York, where they meet once a week and paint. And she was a member of the local artist’s group down in Live Oak, Florida, too. Wherever she goes, she always seeks out art groups and their shows. Last summer while we were out in New York visiting, she took us down to a beautiful little riverside park in Kingston for a picnic. And there, along the docks and piers and slowly flowing river, stands a large modern sculpture. It looks like a geodesic dome, with metal tubes for the connectors, and all the little panels that make it up are painted by local artists. She painted two of the panels. One of Penny and one of Jesus. If you're ever in Kingston, go check it out.
When I first got into my healthy heart regimen at about age 40, I started taking flaxseed oil. The first time I opened the container a familiar, heady smell came wafting up to my nostrils. “Hey!” I thought, “This smells just like linseed oil”. Well, I dug around a bit, and found out linseed oil is flaxseed oil, they're made from the same thing - flax seeds. Just different grades. So now, every time I make myself a protein drink, I'm reminded of the Cabin, all the good times sitting around the table painting, and my mother. Not bad, huh?
My mother’s gallery is starting out small – I only have one piece of hers. But Danny and Jim said they will go over to her apartment and take some photos of her works. So this collection will grow soon.