Former Woodmere Museum curator overcomes brain tumor

Posted 8/15/13

Adelman, a familiar face in the local arts community because of her 13 years as the Robert L, McNeil Curator of Education at Woodmere Art Museum, has been drawing for 40 years. And since the …

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Former Woodmere Museum curator overcomes brain tumor

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Adelman, a familiar face in the local arts community because of her 13 years as the Robert L, McNeil Curator of Education at Woodmere Art Museum, has been drawing for 40 years. And since the successful removal of her benign brain tumor in 2005, she continues to happily paint, exhibit and teach.

by Sally Cohen and Len Lear

Meri Adelman, 58, whose brain tumor forced her to leave the position of Curator of Education that she held at Woodmere Art Museum from 1992 to 2005, is currently exhibiting 10 sumptuously colored still-lifes of fruit through September at Stockton, N.J.'s, Via Ponte, a charming Sicilian fine dining restaurant. Adelman, who has been drawing since she was 11 years old, exhibited and drew only in black and white until a benign brain tumor was removed eight years ago.

Told by doctors to expect nothing to change except maybe needing some rehabilitation, it was dramatic when her voice was transformed permanently. (It is still slightly difficult but not impossible to understand.)

The West Mt. Airy resident remains somewhat off-balance and is an avid member of the "sleep festival," needing 12-14 hours a night. "Being in a wheelchair and drooling really shook me up,” she said. “Luckily, I can use my own legs now, and I only spit occasionally, but hey, so do camels."

She took advantage of a bad situation. "You might say it blew the top of my head off, or, as I like to say, 'popped my cork.’ I even have a painting of that." Still loving black and white, Meri admits that life and her consciousness of it have been changed permanently. "It's like an on-going hallucination; everything is more intense than ever before."

She ferociously set about making pictures. She used to do life-size portraits, but now her works are much smaller. "She was driven, couldn't be stopped; it was a necessary obsession," said her agent and friend, Kathleen Statue, who watched her work flourish over the past 20 years.

Luckily, Ms. Statue's dear cousin is Katherine Wytovich, part-owner and concierge of Via Ponte, along with chef Giuseppe Finazzo. "He's the real thing,” said Adelman. “He’s a native son of Sicily and a fabulous chef."

Katherine, very interested in creative production, has watched Meri's artistic development and was anxious to include her vibrant work on the walls of Via Ponte. "Be sure to stop by and have a look-see, and don't miss out on a great meal," said Katherine.

Adelman has been drawing for 40 years. She served as the Robert L, McNeil Curator of Education at Woodmere Art Museum for 13 years. She received her B.F.A. in painting from the Maryland Institute, College of Art, 1980, and her M.A. in art history from Temple University, 2000.

Prior to her work at Woodmere, Meri was a freelance exhibition curator in Philadelphia. For example, she organized “From Salonika to Curacao: A Sephardic Odyssey” for Gratz College at the National Museum of American Jewish History. She researched archives and selected materials from 10 national institutions tracing the history of two Jewish communities in the old and new world.

And for the 250th Anniversary Exhibition of Congregation Mikveh Israel, the second oldest synagogue in America, Meri researched archives from the 1870s to the present day, selected objects and assisted with text and label writing.

Meri also taught art courses at several community-based non-profits such as Mt. Airy Learning Tree and Main Line Art Center; she lectured at Woodmere on such subjects as legendary abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock, French Impressionist Paul Cezanne and Ben Shawn, a Lithuanian-born, 20th century American artist famed for his social realist works. “I have been and always will be indebted to early Italian painting,” she said, “and then there's always Cezanne. Always.”

And since the successful removal of her benign brain tumor in 2005, Adelman continues to happily paint, exhibit and teach. According to Gary Miller, a Chestnut Hill resident who is an artist and photo teacher at Germantown Friends School, Meri "represents all the good things about being in and of the arts."

And it’s not unusual for a Chestnut Hill area resident to stop Meri and say, "You look like the woman who worked at Woodmere.” Meri said she always replies, “That's because I am."

For more information, contact Meri at giottopaints@yahoo.com or visit www.meriadelman.com. For more information about Via Ponte, 13 Bridge St. in Stockton, NJ, along the Delaware River, call 609-397-9397 or visit www.viapontestockton.com

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