Memories and Miracles

In Memories and Miracles, Margie Schaffer Steinmann presents mixed media paintings that address the artist’s process. Her compositions often evoke imaginary ruins of her native city that are reborn through refined assembly of color, line, and form. Steinmann states, "I approach each piece in conflict between intuition and intention but my passion and commitment give me the courage, insight and trust to create a sublime discord of classical abstraction. A painting that begs questions, not answers. A painting that is life affirming. An invitation to you the viewer to open a different door and find something that was there all along.” One hundred years ago, on October 17, 1919, Steinmann’s father was born; she dedicates this show to him, her biggest fan.

Born and raised in Manhattan, Margie Schaffer Steinmann had an early introduction to fine art through her uncle, the renowned outsider artist, Harry Lieberman. Growing up in the city afforded her the opportunity to spend most of her spare time in museums. She furthered her studies at The University of Wisconsin. Steinmann's solo exhibitions include Citibank at 65th & Madison, 3 to 1 Gallery, Washington Square Gallery, and The Red Door. She has participated in numerous juried group exhibitions including Lincoln Center, Weill Cornell Medical Library, Lesley Heller Workspace, aljira Center for Contemporary Art, First Street Gallery, The New York International Arbitration Center, and The Conference Board. Steinmann’s work has been reviewed in L Magazine, The Jewish Post, and numerous issues of Gallery & Studio Arts Journal. Her work is held in the collections of Screenvision Media, FIT, Fortitude Investment Group, Weill Cornell Medical Library, The Horwitch Collection and The Hispanic Society of the Americas.

In Memories and Miracles, Leslie Shaw Zadoian presents abstract works entitled Refugees and Crossing Borders. The two works featured are from a series entitled Upheaval, which represents the tragedies brought on by conflict. Zadoian begins her practice with formal aesthetic elements: shapes, lines, color, texture, and space. She finds beauty and formal elegance in unlikely combinations. Equally important to the artist are textures, energy and space, which are sensed rather than seen. Zadoian states, “Inspired by nature, art, the world of manufactured and discarded objects, and the inner journey, my artworks transform disparate elements and integrate them into a new universe.”

Leslie Shaw Zadoian, b. 1941, received her BA and MA from Queens College, City University of New York, and studied at The Art Students League of New York with Bruce Dorfman. After college, she worked as a writer, editor, and graphic designer in publishing at The Viking Press, Penguin Books, and CBS International Publishing, as well as in higher education. During this time her fine art practice restricted to occasional paintings and a residency in Rome and Pompei photographing the restoration of a frescoed garden wall in the House of the Menander. Zadoian eventually left the world of “real jobs” to make fine art full time in 2005. Her work is in private collections in the U.S. and Europe and has been exhibited throughout New York and elsewhere in the United States. Today, Zadoian lives and works in New York City and Liberty, New York.