Click on each image to explore the work in more detail.
WELCOME TO THE SHOW
The Touchstones® Discussion Project is pleased to launch this special exhibition celebrating the work of Dr. Elliott Zuckerman. Elliott was a painter, pianist, and poet of considerable talent and accomplishment and a long-time friend to Touchstones. When he passed away in 2019, he left more than 180 of his original paintings to support the Touchstones mission in education: to foster critical thinking and collaborative leadership among learners of all ages and backgrounds through inclusive discussion-based programs.
This exhibition is the second we have hosted and will surely be followed by many more as we share the collection and offer select works for purchase. The curator for both the 2019 and this show, Sigrid Trumpy, asked two artists from Annapolis, Neil Harpe and Cassandra Kabler to offer their perspectives on each work in A Walk through the Gallery, which appears on each webpage in the exhibition. In addition, we’ve included Another Frame of Reference for each work, which we hope enhances your experience. Among these references are a number of Elliott Zuckerman’s poems, some of which are being published here for the first time.
We invite you to engage in your own classroom, family, or community discussions on the works in this show. You’ll find a Touchstones discussion lesson plan and accompanying materials in pdf format provided on each webpage in the gallery. Thank you for your interest in Touchstones and we hope you enjoy the show!
About Elliott Zuckerman
Prior to his passing, Dr. Zuckerman was a Tutor Emeritus at St John’s College in Annapolis, where he began teaching in 1961. Before that, he taught at Columbia and at the New School.
Born in Brooklyn in 1930, his study of painting began at the High School of Music and Art in New York City, where, while continuing to study music elsewhere, he matriculated as an art student. He went on painting while at Cambridge, and participated in a series of exhibits. On return from Europe, in did not paint for many years, but took it up again in the mid nineteen-seventies, starting out with portraits, which he had never done before. In 1980, he had a show of thirty portraits and self-portraits. By then he was also painting still-lifes and landscapes, exhibiting frequently at the Maryland Federation of Art. In 2010, he had a highly praised one-man show at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts.
His paintings are in many private collections in Annapolis, Chicago, New York, and throughout the country, and in Europe.
Dr. Zuckerman’s collection of his work was donated to Touchstones Discussion Project in celebration of his long-time friend and colleague, Howard Zeiderman, and in honor of Touchstones Legacy Campaign, begun in 2018. Elliott wished for proceeds from the sales of his paintings to support Touchstones organizationally and programmatically, as he believed strongly in the power of discussion to build connections and deepen understanding among all people.
Acknowledgements
For more information on the incredible artists that helped Touchstones make this online exhibit and our programs possible, please see here.
The Music You Hear
Elliott Zuckerman was not only an accomplished painter, writer, and educator, but also a gifted musician. The song you’re hearing on our homepage (if your volume is on!) is “Where the Poet Lives”. “Where the Poet Lives” is a poem Elliott wrote which he set to piano and tenor and recorded with Eric Stoltzfus on vocals and Elliott himself playing the piano. “Where the Poet Lives” is one of six poems set to song that Elliott and Eric recorded together in their collection “Six Songs”.