By
Sandra Bertrand

(Cornelia first appeared in our October 2019 issue of NAWA NOW. As founding editor of ART TIMES, she can be brilliantly succinct and to the point about the written word but also in describing her own accomplishments. We felt it was only appropriate to our readers to take a second, more in depth look at this talented woman so committed to the arts, women’s role in the culture at large and life in general.)

Can you tell us about your earliest interest in the arts—was it childhood curiosity, a mentor or family member who lit the spark for you?
The arts were very much part of my childhood experiences. As children, my parents took us to the theater in NYC, albeit the nosebleed section. We were also taken to the opera and to historical sites. I remember being in a community play. My major in college was Speech and Drama education.

What role has the arts played in your adult life?
In 1969, my husband at the time and I moved to Michigan, and I got a job as an English teacher and as the drama teacher in charge of mounting a number of plays. I got the job because “since you’re from NYC, you must know all there is to know about the theatre.” Fortunately, the group of drama students knew a lot more than me and taught me all about building sets and other aspects of the craft.

What would you like to say about the upstate New York area you’ve come to know so well? How has its character and citizens sustained you over the years?
A number of years after we’d settled in Michigan, I resettled in Woodstock, NY, met my second husband Raymond, and we began ART TIMES, a literary journal and resource for the fine and performing arts which exposed me to all of the arts. I visited and wrote about exhibits at galleries and museums, enjoyed plays and concerts, and visited numerous cities exploring their arts offerings.

You mention that Raymond J. Steiner’s suggestion of an arts/cultural newsletter was the beginning of an arts news journal and your involvement.
The years publishing ART TIMES brought me closer to understanding the creative experience and introduced me to hundreds of creatives. Although I don’t consider myself a writer, I wrote a column each month that included the numerous places and events where I had been. During the years I published ART TIMES, I did a great amount of traveling including press trips to Singapore, France, Alaska, and numerous cities in the U.S. We met lifelong friends in Italy and in Germany. These experiences and the people I met will always be part of me, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to support the Creative community.

ART TIMES came into being as a result of my husband Raymond J. Steiner (1933-2019) being asked to write a piece for a local arts council. Many months after he submitted the piece, it still wasn’t published. We went to see the director and learned that they had no money to typeset the organization’s newsletter. I said I would go to local businesses and solicit advertising, and the director was so pleased and thanked me. Well, I never heard back from her. As Raymond and I were leaving the arts council office, we started to toss the idea around (he said it was my idea, I thought it was his) of our creating a newspaper that would showcase the arts in our region and could also be distributed to NYC. This was in the spring of 1984, and I was not happy with the work I was doing (career counselor). Raymond had been excised from his teaching job – apparently new carpeting throughout the high school was more valuable than a revered teacher. He would later say that I created a job for him.

Actually, I created jobs for us both. ART TIMES was born three months after that fateful meeting at the arts council, and it has been a life fulfilling experience. I felt that if I died at that time (I was all of 36!). I’d have made a difference in my world. Supporting creative people by publishing: calendar listings, opportunities for getting their work out into the world, supporting the greater arts community, and by publishing essays about dance, theater, music, and art.

What were your favorite moments in creating such a publication and what were some of the challenges you faced?
There are several favorite moments. I was at a gallery in an art center and was introduced to a man who told me that his play was being produced upstairs in the center’s theater and that he had read about the competition in ART TIMES. Another very moving experience was getting a call from a man who had found a piece, including a photo, of a funeral of the head Rabbi of Zurich that we were able to attend in Zurich, Switzerland. The funeral was for this man’s father, and I was able to send him the photograph. I know that ART TIMES has made a significant difference to creatives and the art world.

The greatest challenge was dealing with the company that distributed about 300 packages (12,000 copies) each month to Metropolitan New York and the Hudson Valley region. They charged when they returned packages to me that they should have delivered and so many more things – my blood pressure still goes up when I think about it. It was probably the most frustrating and annoying experience I had in the 37 years we published ART TIMES.

After my partner Raymond J. Steiner died in 2019, I kept on with arttimesjournal (name changed when we were exclusively online as of 2016). Then came the pandemic. I received only a few articles, few opportunities and calendar listings. I still received poetry and short fiction which I continued to publish up until late Fall ’22. We each did very different things. Ray was the editor and dealt with all the submissions, and I ran the business, sought out advertisers, and created arttimesjournal for publication. My favorite part was being out and about, promoting arttimesjournal and gathering items for my column “Culturally Speaking.” Well, the pandemic put an end to events happening, and there was no going out and about for over three years. I’ve put my creativity and energies elsewhere. Arttimesjournal is still available online with past essays, short fiction and poetry.

How do you feel about NAWA as a woman’s organization? How do you feel about its challenges and potential growth in the future?
NAWA is a very important organization not only for the women members but for the entire arts community. Women got, and in many cases still get, short shrift in the art world. NAWA promotes and supports women artists and showcases women who were not recognized during their time. NAWA’s archives, held at Rutgers University, is a treasure trove and important part of American history. As long as NAWA embraces the changes in our culture, future growth will be secure. We are so very fortunate to have the leadership that we have.

What do you personally hope to accomplish in your own future?
For myself, I continue to enjoy the arts. My abilities and skills, for now, are being challenged with local organizations and as the consultant to Myrna Haskell, publisher of Sanctuary magazine and a fellow board member of NAWA.

(When I last spoke with Cornelia, it was clear that she will continue to nourish her soul as she has clearly done for so many years, with whatever project she embraces.)
http://www.sanctuary-magazine.com
https://www.arttimesjournal.com/art/reviews/Nov_Dec_12_Raymond_J_Steiner_WSA/Prints_at_the_Woodstock_School_of_Art.html