Area artist's work chosen for national exhibit

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September 4, 2010

By Patricia Breakey Delhi News Bureau HAMDEN _ Lewis Pepper loves to draw landscapes animals, but he had never drawn a person until he sketched a self-portrait that now hangs in the Smithsonian's Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art Portraiture in Washington, D.C. Pepper, 63, of Sidney, entered a contest to celebrate the 40th anniversary of ANCOR, the American Network of Community Options Resources. ANCOR was founded in 1970 as an association of organizations that support community integration for people with disabilities. Pepper's portrait titled "Artist at Work" is one of 70 selected nationwide for the show, which will open with a private reception Sept. 13. The portraits will become part of the permanent collection in the ANCOR headquarters in Virginia. "This exhibit really brings the voices of the people with disabilities we serve into our celebration," ANCOR Chief Executive Officer Renee L. Pietrangelo said in a media release. "The remarkable energy, diversity creativity of the pieces underscore the value of supporting community integration self-expression for everyone, including individuals with disabilities." Pepper said Thursday that he began drawing when he was 5 years old. "My mother bought me a great big blackboard," Pepper said. "She was going out, I was staying with my grandmother. She told me when she got back she wanted to see a drawing of a cow lying down." Pepper said he grew up in the Bronx. "Do you know how hard it is for a cow to be in New York City?" he asked with a laugh. "I imagined a cow standing up, then I tried to figure out how its legs would be when it was lying down." Sharon Klinger, Pepper's life coach at the Delaware County ARC, said he always has his art supplies books with him. DelARC public relations spokeswoman Catherine Tweedie said the entry information for the ANCOR competition arrived just weeks before the deadline. "Lewis had very little time to complete a portrait," she said. Pepper said he normally draws from memory, but for the self-portrait, he spent time in his room in front of a mirror. "I never did a picture of me," he said. "It had to be like a bust, just my head chest. I was trying to figure out how to do it, but after a while I got into it put the lines on the paper." Klinger said after Pepper had completed the pencil drawing, she made several copies of the original so he could work on filling in the color with special water-activated colored pencils. "I have a red shirt, so I made the shirt red," Pepper said. During the year, Pepper has been participating at the Hamden ARC facility, he has been taking art classes in Delhi Harpursville. "Lewis told me that when he started taking his art classes, he finally realized why he was coming here," Tweedie said. Pepper said he still prefers drawing animals scenes from his memory, but has begun doing some figure drawing in the Delhi classes. "They are having a young lady do some modeling," Pepper said. Pepper spread a collection of his landscapes, still-life drawings animal sketches on the table. The show piece is a drawing of a bald eagle in a tree titled "Born Free." "I used to sit out on my deck, the eagle would be sitting on the same tree branch over the river almost every day," he said. "I love to do animals." Pepper said the last thing his mother told him before she died was not to give up on his art. "My mother would be so proud," Pepper said. The Daily Star Sat Sep 04, 2010, 03:30 AM EDT

If you have good news you'd like to share, call Associate Managing Editor Emily Popek at 432-1000 or (800) 721-1000, ext. 217; fax her at 432-5707; e-mail her at epopek@thedailystar.com; or write to her at P.O. Box 250, Oneonta, NY 13820.