SAM PEPPERMAN SILENT AUCTION ART SHOW

Fran Pepperman Taylor and COTS are pleased to announce a silent auction of Fran's fathers' artwork;

all proceeds from the event will benefit COTS.

3 – 6 p.m. Saturday, November 9 COTS Administrative Offices

(95 North Avenue, Burlington)

Bidding closes at 5 p.m.

Light refreshments to be served. Robert Resnik will be the afternoon's emcee, and Aram Bedrosian will provide

music.

Please RSVP by November 6 at RSVP@cotsonline.org

SAM PEPPERMANBorn in Montreal on September 10, 1915, Sam’s first memory was of his mother pushing him over the snow in a sleigh-carriage while people ran past with goods stolen from their burning apartment building. For a time, his Rumanian and Yiddish speaking family shared an apartment with relatives. There were more fires and more apartments. Sam learned English and some French. He listened to classical music records that a cousin played. He experienced the violence and anti-Semitism common in Montreal at that time. When he was seven years old, Sam’s parents took him across the U.S. border at Rouses Point, NY. They resettled in Brooklyn, NY. His father’s temper and leftist politics made it difficult to keep a job, so the family was continually on the move. But, Sam did well in school and went to Stuyvesant High School, even while working in his father’s furniture shop as a cabinetmaker. Cooper Union College provided him a free education, and he completed a four-year art course. He then pursued a one-year postgraduate course, as well as a one-year course at the Museum of Modern Art.

When WWII began, he volunteered but was rejected for military service since he was not a citizen. He married Helen Wilker, whom he met in the American Peoples’ Chorus. Six months later he was drafted. On the boat to Sicily he became ill and was left to recover in Algeria. He spent the next 3 years stationed there, painting when he could and writing daily to Helen. Every other member of his original military unit was killed in the invasion of Sicily.

After the war, Sam supported his young family as a draftsman for a company specializing in fine architectural woodwork. Although he would briefly try his hand as one of the owners of this company, it soon became clear that power and wealth held little draw for him. He returned to his old job, and continued eating his brown bag lunch each day by the East River. In 1949 Sam and Helen moved to a new cooperative community in Rockland County, where they raised their three children and were active in the community.  When Sam retired in 1980 he was finally able to again devote himself to his art. He showed in many galleries in NYC (including one man shows at Ligoa Duncan on Madison Ave, and Wolcott Fields on 5th Ave) as well as closer to home in Rockland County.

He was a devoted member of the Rockland County Association of Craftsmen and Artists. In a letter written to his daughter, Fran, just a few days before his unexpected and fatal heart attack in 1989, he wrote about planting the vegetable garden, fixing the garage roof, having an art show, and his grave concerns for the Chinese students and workers demonstrating in Tiananmen Square. Sam’s serious side was tempered by a dry sense of humor. As a public service, he once offered to paint fig leaves on the eyeglasses of a New York State Senator who was threatening to censor public art.

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Please RSVP by November 6 at RSVP@cotsonline.org

“Sam Pepperman's whimsical work is reminiscent of the 1950's style that leaves many of us feeling nostalgic. His colorful figures, quick intercepting lines, and organic sculpture are sure to please. One can't help thinking ‘Picasso!’ seeing Pepperman's delightful work of this modernist era.”

– Katherine Montstream 

Please RSVP by November 6 at RSVP@cotsonline.org

Please RSVP by November 6 at RSVP@cotsonline.org