Blame it on her genes, said Manalapan resident Bev Myers, whose artwork is featured at the town of South Palm Beach’s first art show of the season. It’s because of her father that she’s an artist.
“My father was a very creative individual. He was a belt and pocketbook designer in New York at the end of the Depression,” she said. “I was only 2 when he died.”
Her daughter is creative also, she said. “Jane is a licensed architect. She and my son-in-law, Michael Marques, a general contractor, designed the 2,000 square-foot addition over my loggia.”
Concerning her own creativity, Myers works in a variety of mediums. For inspiration, she studies her favorite artists — including Joanie Mitchell, Richard Diebenkorn, Frank Auberbach and Lucien Freud — and then uses that knowledge as a fertile ground to grow her own style.
“I like painting landscapes and portraits with energy. I don’t like still-life — that’s boring,” she said.
Her garden is another source of inspiration. “I look at the garden like a painting. I see how colors, sizes, shapes and textures relate to each other.”
This Jan. 10, she plans to open her beautiful garden for a Daubach Foundation charity tour that will benefit Florida Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patients. Myers is a docent at the Norton Museum of Fine Art, and she especially enjoys sharing her love of art with children.
She also plays a little golf, and yes, there is an artistic connection. “In golf, you have to trust the swing. In art, it’s the same,” she said. “You have to trust that the body and arm will coordinate and something will come out. With both golf and painting, you have to let go with the stroke.”
— Christine Davis10 QuestionsQ: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I grew up in Newton, Mass. (a suburb of Boston), went to the Newton Schools and then to Wheaton College in Norton, Mass. I was married in my junior year and finished at Boston University with a degree in fine arts. Boston is a cosmopolitan city with great museums and lots of culture.
Q: Tell us about your art.
A: My art is expressionistic. I dream with my eyes open. People tell me that they like my style because it is loose. I use my whole arm for my energy as I have essential tremor in my hands and am not great with details, although I can do it when I have to.
Q: What other careers have you had, and what were the highlights?
A: In 1964, my husband opened an executive recruiting firm and I went in to help him get started, and then I stayed in it for 22 years even though my heart was always in art.
Q: How did you choose to make your home in Manalapan?
A: We bought the house in Manalapan due to an error by the real estate broker. He called the wrong Myers! My husband had just sold his company and we were looking for a larger house, so I went with this broker anyway just to see this house. We loved it, bought it, and this ‘lucky’ broker did well also.
Q: What is your favorite part about living in Manalapan?
A: We enjoy small-town living, which Manalapan affords us. It has approximately 500 residents, lovely people, including our town employees and police (as evidenced by my last speeding ticket).
Q: What book are you reading now?
A: I just finished an excellent historical novel by my dermatologist in Boston, Vivian Loh. It’s about the capture of Singapore by the Japanese in World War II. It’s called Breaking the Tongue and is about the coming of age of a Chinese boy who revered the British and redefined his culture and himself.
Q: What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
A: I like to listen to classical music when I paint. However, because of my grandson, I’m getting to like rock also.
Q: Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
A: “Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird?” — Pablo Picasso
Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: My idol is my husband. I’m the balloon and he is the string.
Q: If your life story were made into a movie, whom would you want to play you?
A: I think Katharine Hepburn would have been great. She was an individualist who did her own thing and was her own person. She also had a tremor (in her voice) and accomplished so much.
For information on the Daubach Foundation charity garden tour, please call 407-733-3741.
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