“There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into sun.”
– Pablo Picasso

Quiet Street in Cape May by Caroline Mangan

It is a rainy day in April. The three women are sitting in an airy room in a spacious house in Egg Harbor Township. Each woman is leaning over her artwork conscious of the looming deadline before her. Three of the group’s members are missing today either because of the rainy weather or because they are still at work. In the summertime the six women come together weekly. They go “on location,” roaming South Jersey recording – with their art – the charms of the region. They’ve been doing this for more than five years and have decided that now is the time to share their vision with the public.

The women – group organizer Marie Natale, Cathy Rodricks, and Ginny Ogden – along with three other members – Caroline Mangan, Bernice Rappoport, and Maureen Gass-Brown – are preparing for a May 2nd art show opening of their work called, appropriately enough, “Women and Their Art.” Cape May’s Chalfonte Hotel will host the mixed-media event that will run through the month of May.

In Lilac Profusion by Maureen Gass

They are women who are at a time in their lives when art can come forward, front and center – no longer back-staged by the demands of career and family. You can feel the collective sigh from the three women as they think about In Lilac Profusion by Maureen Gassart and the reasons why they are still together as a group after nearly six years. Artists, as one of the women notes, are not known for accepting criticism graciously yet these six critique each other’s work regularly and, as Ginny Ogden notes, “no one takes it personally.” It’s done with kindness because “we all have a different vision,” added Marie Natale.

When asked the secret of the group’s longevity, the three artists look up and, without hesitation, say in perfect unison, “Caroline Mangan.”

Girls on Beach by Caroline Mangan

Caroline Mangan is their friend, their teacher, their mentor, and a member of their art group. They view the septuagenarian as a “true artist” – one who shares her view, her talent and her energy about art.

The six women came together in the course of their art studies. Mangan, a portrait artist and teacher met four of the women in her classes. They ran into each other again at various workshops.

“Something just clicked,” said watercolor artist Marie Natale, referring to Mangan. “It’s her personality and her energy.”

Planting Time by Ginny Ogden

“She’s uplifting,” says Ginny Ogden. “We all want to be with her.”

“And we all paint better as a result of being with her,” added Cathy Rodricks.

So, who is this woman who is so admired by her fellow artists?

She is a portrait artist and art teacher who works primarily in watercolor. The West Chester, PA. resident is a signature member of the Philadelphia Watercolor Club and the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society who has won many accolades over the years.

And why did she become an artist?

A Senior Moment by Caroline Mangan

“Oh, I loved it (art),” said Mangan in a recent telephone interview. “I loved art as a child. I was always copying pictures out of magazines and then after I graduated high school, I enrolled at the Philadelphia College of Art and studied to be a fashion illustrator. But I never pursued it. I got married and didn’t pick up a brush for ten years. Then, my mom got sick and I felt the need paint.”

And why did she elect to paint in watercolor?

“Because it felt looser. I felt freer and not as rigid as I felt working in oil. Although, lately I’ve gone back to oil and it feels looser because of the time I spent working with watercolor.”

Tot on the Beach by Caroline Mangan

And why does she think she is so admired as a teacher and an artist?

“Because I’m a giving person and not all art teachers are. I put myself out there. I don’t withhold any information that I think will help my students.”

It is this sharing of knowledge that the group tries to keep integral to their art sessions. They view their art as a “constant journey” both literally and figuratively speaking. Literally, their journey takes them from Tuckerton to Ventnor to Avalon to Cape May trying to capture south Jersey on canvas. Many of the inspirations for their paintings are already gone – a 100-year-old hotel, a fishing shack, an open field.

Purple Dusk by Cathy Rodric

“We’re losing a lot that charm,” said Natale, as more and more farmland is being sold to make way for housing developments or shopping centers.

Natale said the group’s inspiration comes from trying to capture the beauty and charm that brought people to the Jersey Shore in first place.

The backgrounds of the other five women, whose work will be presented at the Chalfonte, are as varied as their art.

Poppies by Marie Natale

Like Mangan, Natale knew, even as a 6 year-old child, that she wanted to be an artist. Encouraged by another teacher when she was 12 to try painting as a medium, Natale has been all over the artistic gambit – from teaching art in the public school system to designing and running her own children’s clothing business. Currently, her day job as an industrial design artist also gives her the time to devote to her first love – watercolor painting.

The idea for a group show came to her when her own artwork was introduced to the public at a show last year.

Working Boats by Ginny Ogden

“It was the first time I sold my paintings,” said Natale, “And I thought the Chalfonte would be a wonderful venue for another (art) show. But that’s a big place to fill and then I thought of our group.”

Daisies by Cathy Rodricks

Ginny Ogden is a retired elementary school teacher who has always had an interest in art. After trying several media she also found her natural niche was watercolor, as did Cathy Rodricks who took up brush and paint after her youngest son left for college 15 years ago.

A nurse by profession, Rodricks shares her companions’ love of florals and landscapes.

The Blue Vase by Maureen Gass

Professional artist Maureen Gass-Brown is a full member in the Garden State Watercolor Society. She explains in her bio that her artistic credo is to “reach the poetry in the subject matter” she is painting. “The fluid… nature of watercolor,” she adds, “allows me to capture emotion, essence and energy.”

Cape May Welcome by Maureen Gass

Bernice Rappoport, is an associate member of the Garden State Watercolor Society as well as the New Jersey Watercolor Society who also works in a variety of other media, among them charcoal, oils and pastels.

Even the most casual of observers can tell that these are six very busy women.

“Hmmm.” Said Ginny Ogden, “Show me a woman who isn’t busy.”

“Well, then you’d be a man,” said Cathy Rodricks as she looked up, ever so briefly, from her work.