We don't generally post the work of other artists on the Flora blog, but we're delighted to make an exception with Clara Gee Stamaty. Clara met Flora when they attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati in the early 1940s. Her late husband, syndicated cartoonist Stanley Stamaty (d. 1979), was one of Flora's best buddies at school, and the couple remained lifelong friends with Flora. (Clara remarried in 1984.)
To celebrate becoming a nonagenarian, Clara has a retrospective art opening at the Ruth Hyman Jewish Community Center, in Deal NJ, on May 17 (two days after her birthday). The exhibit runs through June 30. In addition to oils, gouaches, collages, and mixed media, the exhibit will include a number of the artist's painted rocks (pictured above).Although it won't be in the exhibit, here's a pencil sketch of Flora by Clara from their Academy days. (It was reproduced in The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora.)
You can download a postcard (as pdf) for the exhibit here.
3 comments:
Aren't they the parents of Mark Alan Stamaty, a most noted cartoonist in his own right?
Indeed they are. But for the sake of this post, I didn't want Clara's exhibit overshadowed by her more famous son. BTW, I've visited Clara several times -- she has a number of rare Flora artifacts -- and she's a delightful woman, full of spunk. Also extremely talented as an artist -- her house is a veritable museum of works by herself, Stan, and Mark.
What a family!
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