Anita Helen Cohen
Anita Helen Cohen of Newton, MA died on July 2, 2023 at age 76 from pancreatic cancer. She was the beloved wife of Alex Vogel, dear daughter of the late Milton and Dorothy Cohen and loving sister of Mitchell.
Anita began a 26 year career in health care at Health Management Resources(HMR) in 1983, working in Newton, MA, as a Behavioral Health Educator, treating patients with high risk obesity. In addition to her career in health care, Anita spent most of her adult life creating
art works in watercolor and pastel. Her passion was to paint nature up close and in this vein she created both representational and abstract paintings. Her paintings earned awards and accolades in numerous exhibitions throughout Massachusetts. Anita was inducted into the National Association of Women Artists in 2015, and in the Massachusetts chapter as well. The true essence of Anita was the joy and beauty she brought, not only to her career and artwork, but to all the people she touched.
From Jennifer Okamura, MA Chapter Head, NAWA:
“Holding you in our thoughts! Sanibel shells refuse to leave even in the strongest of tides was my first thought when I think of you, Anita. Your warmth, sense of humor, and love of everything that brought you beauty, such as peaceful Sanibel – even after Hurricane Ian – sand and shell-filled beaches to blooming plants surrounding the places you called home. We met in Newton, we met in Sanibel, we met in art-related events, we met virtually, but mostly, we met with the tides, the happy times here, and memory.”
Like tides come in three forms, I and anyone she met admire Anita’s growth as an artist and a beautiful human. She continued her ability to diversify and find new modes of expression. Second, her knowledge, competence, confidence, and grace helped support and advance the artistic careers of many friends and colleagues in the artistic realm and beyond — a rare gem, a colleague, an art world professional, and mostly ‘third,’ ‘the strongest of tides’. I’m happy to call her a colleague and friend, and you may have known her also as the Hospitality Chair of the National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA, MA Chapter). Her home and welcoming heart is what you deserve! Times like this, I am reminded, Ah! Sun-flower by William Blake. The Sunflower is a symbol of a human, above all of persistent love, a poetic imagination, and a yearning to understand. You and your family are the beauty of the strongest and slightly haunting tides forever etched in our hearts and minds.”
Her show is currently on view at the Berkshire museum.
A Feminine Palette: https://bamuseum.org/
In her own words:
“For me, all of nature is art. What is a linden leaf in autumn if not Nature’s painting? Unlikely colors combine perfectly in composition and symmetrical design! I am drawn to texture, color and form – especially details created by texture. I often see details before I see the ‘whole’, and I find it totally engrossing to get lost painting them. Watercolors are a natural medium for me. They allow me to paint with a feminine palette: to call attention to the line of a leaf, to create delicate, transparent flowers as well as to change textured, hard rock surfaces into softer more accessible, more feminine form. With my recent work using yupo synthetic paper, the process of chasing and taming the paint, coaxing it toward more predictability, feels magical. I allow the painting to speak to me. This is a process of discovery in which the painting and I are interactive partners, continually creating images and meaning together. This approach has enabled me to work more freely and abstractly.”
Judith (“Judy”) Lois Posner
NAWA Member Judith (“Judy”) Lois Posner, 81, died on January 4, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. An intrepid global traveler well into her 70s, Judy was best known as an art agent who founded an art gallery and poster publishing company that became one of the largest woman-owned businesses in Wisconsin, her home state. She was born in Milwaukee in 1941 to Miriam and Sol Kahn and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in fine arts.
Judy founded Posner Gallery in 1960 in Milwaukee and developed the business into an art consultancy before selling it in 2014 to her daughter, Wendy Posner. She brought artists such as David Hockney and Andy Warhol to Milwaukee. Judy also launched one of the first large-scale art poster publishing companies in the United States.
In an undated newspaper story, Judy recounted starting her career as an assistant director in the gallery of the Dayton Co., a large department store in Minneapolis. For many years after that, she was an art buyer, investing in art herself and then selling it for a profit. She moved into publishing of fine prints, such as serigraphs and silk screening. Judy also specialized in French posters created between 1870 and 1900. Judy also conceived and commissioned the first all painted NBA basketball court by artist Robert Indiana for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Judy moved her business to Los Angeles in the 1980s, where her daughter joined the company in the 1990s after graduating from Boston College. Judy’s legacy lives on in Posner Fine Art (posnerfineart.com), which Wendy is growing into an international art consultancy.
She is survived by her daughter Wendy Posner (M: Mark Sullivan), her son David Posner (M: Chloé Ryan) and her five grandchildren, her sister Peggy (M: Tom) Jacobson and several nieces and nephews.
