Alice Matzkin spent four decades creating acclaimed portraits, including works of Betty Friedan and Beatrice Wood that grace the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and a portrait of Chelsea Clinton that once hung in the White House. At age 85, after losing most of her life’s work in a devastating fire and enduring the isolation of the pandemic, Alice entered what seemed like the end of her artistic journey. For months, this accomplished painter rarely touched her brushes, her creative spirit seemingly extinguished by grief and loss.
Then came the moment that changed everything. While sweeping her studio floor in quiet resignation, Alice suddenly heard a clear voice inside her head saying, “Go to the studio and don’t worry about what you’re doing; just go to the studio.” Trusting this unexpected guidance, she picked up pastels and black paper, abandoning her lifetime practice of portrait work to create flowing, stream-of-consciousness abstractions she calls “surreal abstractism.” Her new exhibition, “Paintings in Tongues: Emanations From a Quiet Mind,” represents not just artistic evolution but profound personal transformation, proving that creativity has no expiration date and sometimes our greatest work emerges from our deepest challenges.
