Local artist adds color to library

The library is a pillar of any community because it serves as a place where people can learn, meet, be entertained and fall in love with reading. The Henry Waldinger Memorial Library in Valley Stream is no exception, but in addition to the loaning of books and hosting classes for school-aged children each month, it’s also a place where residents can view the work of local artists.

Since the last week of March, Valley Stream artist Martha Horman’s work has been on display at the library, and it will stay there through April. Horman, a native of Buffalo, has lived in Valley Stream for nearly 40 years and said she has always had an interest in drawing, painting and crafts.

She said that her mother used to joke that she was “born with a box of crayons” in her hand. She has taken classes at the Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts, in addition to private classes from artists in Buffalo. But it wasn’t until a few years ago that she really got into creating art and jewelry again.

Her husband, Paul, who she says frequents garage sales, snagged a box of pastels in 2008. Horman had never worked with pastels, but since the box was in good shape, she asked a friend if she could tag along for an art class in the area. She quickly took to it and now frequently creates pastel, watercolor and oil paintings.

Horman, a retired Nielsen employee, mostly paints at home where she has a dedicated art studio, but she is also part of an art club at St. Raymond’s Church in East Rockaway that meets every Tuesday.

She has three Etsy pages — one for antiques, one for books and one for paintings and jewelry — where she sells her work. Horman said she doesn’t create art or jewelry to make a living, but simply as a hobby she enjoys. “If you want to make a living in art, you really need to have an agent, because otherwise it takes too much time to promote what you’re doing,” she said. “You either paint or you promote; it’s very hard to do both.”

There are about 20 of Horman’s pieces currently on display at the Waldinger library, mostly small watercolor paintings. She paints a lot of landscapes or objects, but her subjects vary often. “It just grabs me,” she said of deciding what to paint. “It will be a scene or a picture of somebody that will reach out and grab me.”

Horman also makes jewelry that features a lot of beads and sometimes pearls. Her longest project was a beaded collar she made with a monkey in it. She said it took more than 100 hours to complete. “I tell my friends who also do beading, ‘I will never do something like that again’ and they laugh at me because they know that I will,” she said.

Her work is now in two display cases to the left of the library’s circulation desk. To view more of her work, go to www.etsy.com/shop/marthahorman.