Calendar girl at 97, artist wins top prize

MILLBROOK— At 97 years young, Shirley Nemetz-Ress is thrilled to be the artist selected to have her painting on the front cover of the 2019 Expressions calendar. It’s quite an honor. For more than 19 years, Watermark has published a full-color calendar, a collection of works from Watermark residences from around the country, of which The Fountains at Millbrook is one.

Shirley Nemetz-Ress, a vital and spirited senior and Fountains resident, proudly showed a copy of her winning painting, “Magenta I,” an abstract full of graceful shapes and vibrant colors.

How did she feel about winning? 

“The best part of winning was the camaraderie of my fellow artist friends here,” she said. 

When asked if she’d been painting all of her life, she expressed surprise. 

“Oh, no, I took it up when I was 72,” she said.

Nemetz-Ress was a working actress, theater teacher, a wife and mother when she made the decision to leave her acting career. Auditions were difficult to get to, and directors could be difficult as well. She decided it was time to quit.

She took a trip to Canada with her husband, and while there, she took an art class. There was a vase with flowers, and the tools needed to do a watercolor. She picked up the brush, began to paint, and when she finished, there it was, a decent rendition of a vase with flowers. A new love blossomed, a new artist bloomed. 

“I was shocked and excited,” she said. “I had found a new way of expressing myself.”

Her family spent winters in Oaxaca, Mexico; she met artists, took lessons, visited museums and enjoyed the colors and art of the country. Her love of painting grew. She kept working, getting better, and loved every minute of it. They lived in Boston, where the art world was vibrant.

Back then she said she painted mostly landscapes. She found encouragement and support, learning from a lot of talented people. Today she loves doing abstract works.

Nemetz-Ress is not the first Fountains resident to be chosen for the calendar. Len Weiss has had works in the calendar three times, and Mary Stupple has been in the calendar once. But Nemetz-Ress is the first from the Fountains to have her work chosen for the front cover.

When she came to live at the Fountains last year, she soon fell in love with its art studio and art teacher, Ellen O’Shea. It’s a good match for her, she loves the classes, the studio and the art history sessions that meet every Thursday afternoon. 

Nemetz-Ress has a passion for painting, sharing time and ideas with other artists and working on new pieces. Currently she is working on a collage on a background of the constellations. Nemetz-Ress puts time, energy and research into each piece she creates.

Said O’Shea about Nemetz-Ress, “Shirley is very self-motivated. She’s experimental. Yet deliberate. She knows full well what is within her.

As the 97 year old tries new things, new ideas are discovered, like using gold acrylics with an array of brilliant colors and textures. She loves trying out new concepts. She has started working lately on black canvas, as well as white, finding it more challenging.

Nemetz-Ress loves color, painting and art, and she challenges herself on a daily basis. Who knows, with a little luck, her current project could be the start of a new calendar cover for 2020.