Aging Artfully Celebrating Women's Long Lives

Aging Artfully
Amy Gorman, with CD of songs by Frances Kandl
Pal Publishing
1563 Solano Avenue, #455, Berkeley, CA 94707
0978519205, $20.00, 148 pages plus CD of 7 songs, 1-510-527-4977, www.goldenbearcasting.com

Aging Artfully: 12 Profiles: Visual & Performing Women Artists Aged 85-105 is Amy Gorman's wonderful celebration of twelve remarkable women and their long-lived artistic creativity. In "Aging Artfully" Gorman selects twelve especially talented and accomplished women of the San Francisco Bay Area and tells their stories interlaced with poems, photos, and enhanced by songs composed and performed in honor of seven of the twelve by Francs Kandl. From Madeline Mason, 104 year old sculptor and doll maker, to 84-year old Rosa Maria Morales Escobar, singer and Folklorico dancer, to Dorothy Takahashi Toy, tap dancer of 89 years, to Mary Beth Washington aka Orunamamu, storyteller and snake handler aged 85 years, to Frances Dunham Catlett, painter aged 98 years, here are amazing portraits of creative women aging artfully. A companion DVD, Still Kicking, by Greg Young follows the life stories of 6 of the 12 women and also includes Grace's song, written by Frances Kandl for Grace Gildersleeve, 94 year old weaver of rugs. Here is a remarkable collaboration to illustrate the power of involvement in the arts. "Aging Artfully" is such an uplifting experience, it should be shared with persons of many ages and occupations. It is certainly inspiring to meet Lily Hearst, for example, who at age 107 practices piano scales and chords over an hour daily, and performs pieces such as Chopin's "Fantasie Impromptu" and Mozart's "Turkish March" just for fun. These are wonderful women, extraordinary women, but they are also women who are used to making the best of their lives and keeping on getting on with it, despite hardships, setbacks, and sorrows. Aging Artfully is a book to be treasured and to be shared.