Sitting in your rocking chair whining? Not if you are local artist Phyllis Marks, because she has big plans in the works.

Even when Phyllis started her rehabilitation program at The Wellness Center of Saratoga, art was on her mind. Bored looking at the bare walls while she exercised, she asked for permission to hang some of her work. Now the cardiac rehab room has a lively rotating exhibition of her paintings on display.

Currently, Phyllis is busy collecting, organizing and matting more than fifty pieces of work from her art students at the Academy for Lifelong Learning (A.L.L.) for display June 14th and 15th in the alternative gallery space at Empire State College during the SaratogaArtsFest (SAF) weekend. And in the fall, she will once again lead one of her inspiring drawing and sketching classes at the Academy.

We got her to put down her scissors and glue long enough to answer a few questions.

AW: How much student work will be on display at SAF? Will you have some of your own paintings there, too?

PM: So far I have about fifty examples of work from my students, past and present. Many of them had never put pen to paper before and are now doing really beautiful work. It makes me so proud. I think I gain as much from the classes as my students do. I’m just taking three of my own paintings along to show that their teacher is an artist!

AW: How did you get started?

PM: I have a BFA from Syracuse University and an MA from study at Syracuse and the College of New Rochelle and I studied painting at the Art Students League in New York City. Of course, since I am concerned with lifelong learning, I’ve kept up my own skills through classes at Skidmore College.

AW: We’ve heard a lot about your “art as therapy” sketching and drawing classes.  Your students tell us that your classes include lots of encouragement and mutual support for the members’ talents.

PM: Drawing can be an antidepressant. I tell students that when they feel anxious…say waiting for a plane or in a doctor’s office…they should pull out a sketch pad and a pen and doodle away. Time passes before they know it. I believe that art can even be a meditative tool.

AW: Have you taught classes besides hands-on art instruction?

PM: I especially enjoyed researching and teaching a class called Women in Art, which examined the often overlooked female master painters from the 15th to 19th centuries, and the follow-up course called 20th Century Women Artists.

AW: We don’t suppose you have time for hobbies?

PM: Well, I love to travel…Greece most recently…and attending theatre, especially the Shaw Festival at Niagara on the Lake. I’ve had to curtail canoeing and dancing lately, but I’m looking forward to my doctor’s okay so I can golf a little this summer. And I’ve started a new hobby, painting dog and cat portraits on commission.

AW: How long have you lived in Saratoga Springs? Tell us a little about your family.

PM: My husband, Ed, and I moved here in 1991 after he retired as Vice President of the Richard Bauer Paper Company in New York City. We recently celebrated our fifty-fifth anniversary. We have two children. Judy was formerly a cinematographer’s agent in Hollywood, but is now in the midst of a career change. She just got her MA in Architectural Restoration and we are happy that she will soon be returning to the East Coast to live.  Our son Bennett is a senior software architect and our two grandchildren are his sons.

Phyllis is a member of A.L.L.’s Master Leader Society, inducted for having led at least fifteen study groups by 2006. It looks as if she’s aiming for another milestone in a few years. In the meantime, we convinced her to display at least  four of her paintings at the Empire State College gallery. We hope you take the time to stop by and see the exhibit. It’s free and we think you will enjoy it