Judy Hamer  

Photographer

I have traveled extensively throughout the United States, Israel, and Europe. When I hold the camera to my eye, an exciting world of contrasting shapes, colors and patterns appear before me. Sometimes I see flowing lines that blend gracefully into one another. Other times I see an assortment of colors and shapes that work together to create a beautiful image. The love, happiness, pensiveness, sadness, and loneliness that are reflected in people’s faces are a fascination for me. When I photograph people, their spontaneous expressions and their emotions are captured on film. I bring to my work an artist’s sense of color, design, and composition.

For many years, I taught high school math, severe communication disordered and head trauma students for BOCES in Westchester, N.Y. In 1990, I was a recipient of a Westchester Education Coalition Grant for “Using Photography to Improve Verbal and Written Expression”. Over the years, I have achieved increased recognition of my photographic work and have been invited to exhibit in a number of galleries throughout the region. I have also done freelance photography for the Peekskill Star, which is part of the Gannett newspaper chain.

Ever since I was a child, I have been very involved in music. I play the piano and have worked as a piano accompanist. Currently, I sing with the Hemlock Farms Choral Society and the Wayne Choralaires in Pennsylvania.

Marty and I work together in many ways. We have exhibited together and often get each other shows. Marty sometimes suggests subjects for me to photograph; and many of my photographs have served as a model for Marty’s paintings.

I live in the Poconos in Pennsylvania and am involved in various artist groups in the area.

Marty Hamer

Artist

After retiring from the New York City Board of Education, I proceeded to embark upon a career as an artist. Actually, this was what I wanted to do as a young man. I had studied to be a painter in Paris and later on at the Art Students League in New York. Marriage and raising a family meant finding a more reliable source of income. I became a teacher and then a guidance counselor, administrator and high school principal.

“Call him the comeback kid”. That’s how an article in the New York Jewish Week describes my belated return to the art world. It goes on to say “For 25 years Marty Hamer didn’t touch a brush making him wonder if his artistic skills would atrophy like an unexercised muscle. But since fate threw him a second chance… the painter’s reputation has steadily grown…” My work has been exhibited at juried shows, galleries as well as a number of successful one man shows. I have also acquired a growing circle of patrons for my artwork.

Most of my later work is done in watercolor – a most unforgiving medium because it is extremely difficult to correct mistakes. There is a tremendous challenge to get it right the first time which generates a dynamic tension that keeps the creative juices flowing.

City scenes and the wonderful designs buildings create as they soar upward to the sky have long held a fascination for me. This is reflected in my many paintings of Jerusalem and other cities. Harmonizing color, line and design, I try to evoke the rhythm, excitement, beauty and power of the city. Several trips to Israel and a growing interest in my own mixed Sephardic and Ashkenazi heritage inspired me to create a substantial body of Judaic Art.

I grew up in New York City and moved to Westchester County in New York. Presently I live in the Pocono Mountain area of Pennsylvania. For many years I served as President of the Valley Artist Association of Westchester. I am a Life Member of the Art Students League of New York, and am a member of the American Guild of Judaic Art, the Pike County Arts and Crafts Association and the Pocono Arts Council.