WASHINGTON — For an artist, landing that first show is a defining moment, a true baptism into the profession. And for Bethesda-based artist Gladys Lipton, that feeling of professional fulfillment is no different — only she’s experiencing it at age 91.
Lipton began taking art lessons three years ago at her independent senior living facility. During one of her first sessions, she discovered her passion for painting — and for painting what she wanted to paint.
“There’s a little rebellious nature in my spirit,” Lipton says. “When the teacher said, ‘You might want to try to copy this,’ I said, ‘Do we have to?’ … I wanted to do my own thing.”
And that is exactly what she started doing.
Lipton’s first collection of work will be displayed in the exhibition “Color and Chaos,” at the Friendship Heights Gallery, in Chevy Chase, Maryland, through Feb. 1.
Lipton describes her work as colorful — “Because I love color in my life,” she says. She generally starts with a central shape or focal point, and then works out from the center, building on the design.
“In this case, I started with a circle, got into a hexagon and got into all kinds of mischief,” Lipton says while explaining one of her paintings. “I love working with the colors. I use a brush and I use paint pens and markers and all kinds of things — whatever I can put my hands on.”
For Lipton, art serves as expression and as therapy. It’s helped her work through happy times and more difficult times, such as the recent passing of her husband.
“It feels exciting and comfortable at the same time,” she says. “It just opened up a whole new world for me.”
Lipton didn’t consider herself an artist until recently, but she wasn’t completely unfamiliar with creating art before taking her lessons.
“I did flirt with it, as I like to call it,” she says, explaining that she once took a course in pastels and another in charcoal at the Brooklyn Museum years ago. “But I had a very busy life and couldn’t spend much time doing it.”
Before retirement, Lipton, who holds a Ph.D. in foreign languages and international education, worked as a teacher and authored several books. Throughout her career, Lipton advocated for teaching children foreign languages at a young age. She speaks Spanish, French and “a tiny amount of Russian.”
“I thought I’d try it, but when I got to the point where the professor said ‘There are 36 endings in adjectives in Russian,’ I said, ‘I don’t think I can do this anymore.’”
Lipton remembers that there was another time she felt the urge to exercise her inner artist. It was right after she completed her doctorate.
“I just felt liberated and I wanted to do something totally different … I marched myself into an art supply store, bought a 5-foot by 5-foot canvas and paints and I just painted away. I got all this energy out,” she says.
Her husband was less thrilled with Lipton’s painting — she says it was all pink — and so she made a promise to take it down from their living room wall after a few years.
But with her new style and a few years of training under her belt, Lipton hopes others might be open to displaying her work on their walls.
“I feel so elated that somebody thinks this is interesting,” says Lipton about her upcoming show.
Lipton’s collection for “Color and Chaos” is ready to go, but there’s no slowing down for her. She says she’s currently working on a new collection for a second art show, set for the Unitarian Church on Rockville Pike.
“I have a wonderful time doing it; I’m always amazed at how it all comes together because I only see parts of it as it’s growing, and suddenly, it comes alive,” she says.
The opening reception for “Color and Chaos” will be held on Sunday, Jan. 11, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 4433 South Park Ave., Chevy Chase, Maryland.
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