Ruth Epstein, 91 years old, is hard at work. With an energy and clarity of vision that would be impressive for a woman a third her age, Ruth creates large-scale collages with materials culled from varied sources. She moved to the Vineyard in 2009 to live with her daughter Lisa Epstein and Lisa’s husband Ivory Littlefield. But she is not the only one on the property busy producing art.
Just down the hill from where Ruth lives, comes the buzz of Ivory’s woodshop where he makes silky wooden bowls as he’s done in some capacity since age 12. Ivory and Lisa’s home is located a few feet away from the woodshop, where they live with their daughter Leah Littlefield, who writes poetry.
But don’t call it an artists’ commune. This is family.
The Littlefield/Epstein family, with the participation of Ruth’s sons, Rick Epstein, a ceramic artist who lives in Westfield, and Mitch Epstein, a fine-art color photographer who lives in New York, will be exhibiting a multi-generational show at Featherstone Center for the Arts from August 28 to Sept. 7. This show is entitled Epstein & Littlefield Show — Three Generations of Art, and will be held in part to celebrate Featherstone’s 20th birthday. The opening reception is Sunday, August 28 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Skilled in many media from photography to weaving, Ruth, the matriarch, is always searching for more materials for her collages.
“Wherever you go, you look,” she says. In her piece called Geisha with the Red Lips, Ruth said she put it together “but it didn’t excite me enough until I found this material from an old lithograph.”
She took the piece apart and added the found floral material but noted, “it never goes back together the same.”
The collages serve as artfully constructed representations of Ms. Epstein’s very personal collections. This is perhaps most poignant in a collage about the Holocaust titled The Grandmother I Never Knew, which includes the original letters, in Yiddish, that her grandmother sent to her mother from 1920 until Sept. 1, 1939 — the day Germany invaded Poland.
“I believe it was important for the whole family to do this,” Ruth said regarding the collage.
Rick and Mitch Epstein are both talented as well but Ruth insists that they don’t get it from her. Rick Epstein will be showing his signature pieces, landscapes on clay, that begin as one slab and are presented as tiles with negative space between them. Mitch Epstein will show color photographs taken on Martha’s Vineyard.
On a recent afternoon Ruth, Lisa and Ruth’s dog “Pippi from Mississippi” all walked down the hill to Ivory’s woodshop, where he displayed some of his mahogany bowls. Making bowls has sustained him for many decades. Some are painted, others are left to show the grain of the wood.
“Certain things look good that are timeless,” he said.
Leah, a sophomore at Falmouth Academy, and Ivory agree that the closeness of their family inspires all of them. Ruth’s art “keeps her excited and charged about life,” Ivory says. “And it rubs off on all of us.”
As if on cue, Ruth emerges from on top of the hill and calls out about some errands and upcoming visitors. Ivory cups his hands around his mouth and shouts back saying that he will be up to talk about it soon.
Then, back to his speaking voice, he observes, “This is what family is supposed to be.”
There will be an opening reception for the Epstein & Littlefield Show — Three Generations of Art on Sunday, August 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Featherstone Center for the Arts. The exhibit will continue to Sept. 7.
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