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Mary Ahern Artist

My Art Starts in the Garden

Mary Ahern Artist
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Category Archives: Meet the Artist

Mary Ahern Artist

NEWS About Exhibitions, Events & Social Media Posts

I invite you into my world as an artist through intimate glimpses of studio life, exhibition preparations, and the creative process that fuels my work. My writing chronicles adventures, garden-inspired creations, and the evolution of my artistic vision.

Follow along on my blogs and social media where I regularly share my journey. My photography and videography offer visual narratives that complement my written reflections—capturing moments of beauty and inspiration that bring joy to everyday life.


Upcoming Exhibitions & Events

May 28 – June 21, 2025. Raising Women’s Voices. Ceres Gallery Group Exhibition.

547 West 27th St
Suite 201 New York
NY 10001

Ceres Gallery NYC


Social Media

You can follow all my posts here or follow me on Instagram. I also post to BlueSky, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Threads and YouTube.

This is What I’ve Been Talking About on Instagram Recently

Mary Ahern Artist

maryahern

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My Art Starts in the Garden

On May 2nd I began the transition of bringing the plants I overwinter in my former darkroom, now my plant room. These are cuttings and divisions of plants I`ve had, in many cases, for years. Most have fond memories of friends who originally shared them with me. Gardening is about centering, remembering, and the continuation of life. It offers me inspiration in many ways.

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On May 2nd I began the transition of bringing the plants I overwinter in my former darkroom, now my plant room. These are cuttings and divisions of plants I've had, in many cases, for years. Most have fond memories of friends who originally shared them with me. Gardening is about centering, remembering, and the continuation of life. It offers me inspiration in many ways.

On May 2nd I began the transition of bringing the plants I overwinter in my former darkroom, now my plant room. These are cuttings and divisions of plants I`ve had, in many cases, for years. Most have fond memories of friends who originally shared them with me. Gardening is about centering, remembering, and the continuation of life. It offers me inspiration in many ways. ...

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Take a Minute. Each day, I spend some time looking intensely at overlooked visions in nature. This exercise serves to slow me down and give me a moment of calmness and awareness in this otherwise chaotic world. My garden is my sanctuary.

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Take a Minute. Each day, I spend some time looking intensely at overlooked visions in nature. This exercise serves to slow me down and give me a moment of calmness and awareness in this otherwise chaotic world. My garden is my sanctuary.

Take a Minute. Each day, I spend some time looking intensely at overlooked visions in nature. This exercise serves to slow me down and give me a moment of calmness and awareness in this otherwise chaotic world. My garden is my sanctuary. ...

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Looking forward to moving my winter hobby outside to my deck for their summer vacation. This unheated former root cellar used to be my darkroom back in the day. It smelled of chemicals. After I went fully digital, the room stayed empty until I had the bright idea to install plant lights. I used the existing sink, water supply, and cabinetry to make a home to overwinter my tropical plants. The fresh smell of soil helps get me through those short, dark days of winter.

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Looking forward to moving my winter hobby outside to my deck for their summer vacation. This unheated former root cellar used to be my darkroom back in the day. It smelled of chemicals. After I went fully digital, the room stayed empty until I had the bright idea to install plant lights. I used the existing sink, water supply, and cabinetry to make a home to overwinter my tropical plants. The fresh smell of soil helps get me through those short, dark days of winter.

Looking forward to moving my winter hobby outside to my deck for their summer vacation. This unheated former root cellar used to be my darkroom back in the day. It smelled of chemicals. After I went fully digital, the room stayed empty until I had the bright idea to install plant lights. I used the existing sink, water supply, and cabinetry to make a home to overwinter my tropical plants. The fresh smell of soil helps get me through those short, dark days of winter. ...

12 1

Because I paint large flowers, people naturally say, “Oh, you must like Georgia O’Keeffe.” What they don’t know is that Georgia’s work drew me in not through her flowers but through her abstractions and her skulls. The sensuality of her forms triggered me. I was moved deeply by her lightened color palette. I’d never seen paintings that had that lightness, that buoyancy. They had a girlie-girl feel to them. I didn’t have the language to understand what moved me at the time. I probably still don’t. But her work made me feel like a woman—a soft, light, gentle, free spirit.⁠
Read my latest Substack Post. Link is in Bio

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Open
Because I paint large flowers, people naturally say, “Oh, you must like Georgia O’Keeffe.” What they don’t know is that Georgia’s work drew me in not through her flowers but through her abstractions and her skulls. The sensuality of her forms triggered me. I was moved deeply by her lightened color palette. I’d never seen paintings that had that lightness, that buoyancy. They had a girlie-girl feel to them. I didn’t have the language to understand what moved me at the time. I probably still don’t. But her work made me feel like a woman—a soft, light, gentle, free spirit.⁠
Read my latest Substack Post. Link is in Bio

Because I paint large flowers, people naturally say, “Oh, you must like Georgia O’Keeffe.” What they don’t know is that Georgia’s work drew me in not through her flowers but through her abstractions and her skulls. The sensuality of her forms triggered me. I was moved deeply by her lightened color palette. I’d never seen paintings that had that lightness, that buoyancy. They had a girlie-girl feel to them. I didn’t have the language to understand what moved me at the time. I probably still don’t. But her work made me feel like a woman—a soft, light, gentle, free spirit.⁠
Read my latest Substack Post. Link is in Bio
...

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This oil painting, A Promise of Spring, is currently in the Full Circles: Then and Now Exhibition at Queens College in Flushing, NY. It was one of the earliest paintings I created in the 1970s. The crooked window and the bare tree reflected my emotions during the cold month of February while waiting impatiently for the renewal of spring. ⁠
Link in Bio for Queens College show info.

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This oil painting, A Promise of Spring, is currently in the Full Circles: Then and Now Exhibition at Queens College in Flushing, NY. It was one of the earliest paintings I created in the 1970s. The crooked window and the bare tree reflected my emotions during the cold month of February while waiting impatiently for the renewal of spring. ⁠
Link in Bio for Queens College show info.

This oil painting, A Promise of Spring, is currently in the Full Circles: Then and Now Exhibition at Queens College in Flushing, NY. It was one of the earliest paintings I created in the 1970s. The crooked window and the bare tree reflected my emotions during the cold month of February while waiting impatiently for the renewal of spring. ⁠
Link in Bio for Queens College show info.
...

13 2

At work in my studio, as I listen to 70s classic rock, I paint. The lighting was specially designed for overall balance and is specific for color accuracy. As I paint, I usually listen to 70s classic rock. Rather loud I might add. Today`s soundtrack was Joe Cocker`s Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

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At work in my studio, as I listen to 70s classic rock, I paint. The lighting was specially designed for overall balance and is specific for color accuracy. As I paint, I usually listen to 70s classic rock. Rather loud I might add. Today's soundtrack was Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

At work in my studio, as I listen to 70s classic rock, I paint. The lighting was specially designed for overall balance and is specific for color accuracy. As I paint, I usually listen to 70s classic rock. Rather loud I might add. Today`s soundtrack was Joe Cocker`s Mad Dogs and Englishmen. ...

38 3

The exhibition Full Circles: Then and Now with Virginia Mallon opened this week at the Rosenthal Library at Queens College. What a fun experience meeting and talking to the students who come to see the show. We laugh when they realize I graduated before they were born. Time sure flies when you’re having fun!
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#maryahernartist #contemporaryart #myartstartsinthegarden #art #artist #exhibition #queenscollege @queenscollegeofficial

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The exhibition Full Circles: Then and Now with Virginia Mallon opened this week at the Rosenthal Library at Queens College. What a fun experience meeting and talking to the students who come to see the show. We laugh when they realize I graduated before they were born. Time sure flies when you’re having fun! 
. 
.

 #maryahernartist #contemporaryart #myartstartsinthegarden #art #artist #exhibition #queenscollege @queenscollegeofficial

The exhibition Full Circles: Then and Now with Virginia Mallon opened this week at the Rosenthal Library at Queens College. What a fun experience meeting and talking to the students who come to see the show. We laugh when they realize I graduated before they were born. Time sure flies when you’re having fun!
.
.

#maryahernartist #contemporaryart #myartstartsinthegarden #art #artist #exhibition #queenscollege @queenscollegeofficial
...

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Hubby Dave and I hung the Queens College exhibition this weekend. I have over 20 works, ranging from the 1970s to the present. It`s a biographical story of my life in a visual sort of way. It`s been interesting for me to pour over the work I created over 50 years ago. My imagery has changed, but the continuum of metaphors is still in the work.

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Hubby Dave and I hung the Queens College exhibition this weekend. I have over 20 works, ranging from the 1970s to the present. It's a biographical story of my life in a visual sort of way. It's been interesting for me to pour over the work I created over 50 years ago. My imagery has changed, but the continuum of metaphors is still in the work.

Hubby Dave and I hung the Queens College exhibition this weekend. I have over 20 works, ranging from the 1970s to the present. It`s a biographical story of my life in a visual sort of way. It`s been interesting for me to pour over the work I created over 50 years ago. My imagery has changed, but the continuum of metaphors is still in the work. ...

42 11

Springtime sounds and sights in my garden make my heart sing. Take a minute to slow down and enjoy nature. You`ll feel better, calmer and happier if you do.
#meditation #myartstartsinthegarden #garden #maryahernartist #takeaminute #natureview #mygarden

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Springtime sounds and sights in my garden make my heart sing. Take a minute to slow down and enjoy nature. You'll feel better, calmer and happier if you do.
#meditation #myartstartsinthegarden #garden #maryahernartist #takeaminute #natureview #mygarden

Springtime sounds and sights in my garden make my heart sing. Take a minute to slow down and enjoy nature. You`ll feel better, calmer and happier if you do.
#meditation #myartstartsinthegarden #garden #maryahernartist #takeaminute #natureview #mygarden
...

17 0

Here`s my set up today for photographing this sculpture I made back in the days I was studying at Queens College. It will be in the show I`m hanging there this weekend. The show opens on Monday 1-4. I`ll be there so stop in and say Hi! I`ll tell you all about this assemblage made from acrylic, pink fiberglass insulation and fishing line. You`ll love the story and meaning behind this series. Just ask!⁠
⁠

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Here's my set up today for photographing this sculpture I made back in the days I was studying at Queens College. It will be in the show I'm hanging there this weekend. The show opens on Monday 1-4. I'll be there so stop in and say Hi! I'll tell you all about this assemblage made from acrylic, pink fiberglass insulation and fishing line. You'll love the story and meaning behind this series. Just ask!⁠
⁠

Here`s my set up today for photographing this sculpture I made back in the days I was studying at Queens College. It will be in the show I`m hanging there this weekend. The show opens on Monday 1-4. I`ll be there so stop in and say Hi! I`ll tell you all about this assemblage made from acrylic, pink fiberglass insulation and fishing line. You`ll love the story and meaning behind this series. Just ask!⁠
⁠
...

19 5

Sometimes, it`s hard for me to believe that my paintings come to life from this mess on my palette. All those bright colors and exuberant flowers are made from layer after layer of these smears of paint. I know that if it surprises me, it has to surprise you too. What are your thoughts?

17 2
Open
Sometimes, it's hard for me to believe that my paintings come to life from this mess on my palette. All those bright colors and exuberant flowers are made from layer after layer of these smears of paint. I know that if it surprises me, it has to surprise you too. What are your thoughts?

Sometimes, it`s hard for me to believe that my paintings come to life from this mess on my palette. All those bright colors and exuberant flowers are made from layer after layer of these smears of paint. I know that if it surprises me, it has to surprise you too. What are your thoughts? ...

17 2

Cosmic Daylily Trio. Oil on Canvas. 24x48". Created in 2024 - $4,500⁠
Upcoming Exhibition: Full Circles: The Art of Mary Ahern & Virginia Mallon, looks at the arc of work made by two Queens College art school alums over their 40+ year creative journey. ⁠
April 7 to May 5, 2025 at QUEENS COLLEGE ART CENTER⁠
65-30 Kissena Blvd, 6th Fl, Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, Flushing, NY⁠
Reception, 4pm to 7pm, Thursday, April 10th⁠
Gallery open weekdays 1-4pm, and by appointment.⁠

20 2
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Cosmic Daylily Trio. Oil on Canvas. 24x48". Created in 2024 - $4,500⁠
Upcoming Exhibition: Full Circles: The Art of Mary Ahern & Virginia Mallon, looks at the arc of work made by two Queens College art school alums over their 40+ year creative journey. ⁠
April 7 to May 5, 2025 at QUEENS COLLEGE ART CENTER⁠
65-30 Kissena Blvd, 6th Fl, Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, Flushing, NY⁠
Reception, 4pm to 7pm, Thursday, April 10th⁠
Gallery open weekdays 1-4pm, and by appointment.⁠

Cosmic Daylily Trio. Oil on Canvas. 24x48". Created in 2024 - $4,500⁠
Upcoming Exhibition: Full Circles: The Art of Mary Ahern & Virginia Mallon, looks at the arc of work made by two Queens College art school alums over their 40+ year creative journey. ⁠
April 7 to May 5, 2025 at QUEENS COLLEGE ART CENTER⁠
65-30 Kissena Blvd, 6th Fl, Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, Flushing, NY⁠
Reception, 4pm to 7pm, Thursday, April 10th⁠
Gallery open weekdays 1-4pm, and by appointment.⁠
...

20 2
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Posted in Art Exhibitions, Artwork, Meet the Artist, New Work, NEWS, Show Schedule, Work in Progress | Tagged Instagram

Not Just Another Pretty Flower. A Solo Exhibition by the Artist Mary Ahern at The Atelier At Flowerfields

Mary Ahern Artist Posted on April 8, 2024 by Mary AhernApril 15, 2024

Embedded With Conversations on Harmony and Balance from the Garden to the Galaxy

The Atelier At Flowerfield is thrilled to announce:

“Not Just Another Pretty Flower3 a Mary Ahern Art Show” 

April 18 to May 30, 2024,

2 Flowerfield, St. James, NY 11772.

Opening Reception: Thursday, April 18, 2024. 5:30 – 7:30 PM

Meet The Artist: Saturday, April 27, 2024. 1 – 3 PM

Mary Ahern’s art is deeply rooted in symbolism, dynamically reflecting the interconnectedness and delicate balance within both the microcosm of her garden and the macrocosm of the cosmos These artworks spark a vital conversation about these essential issues. Drawing inspiration from the vibrant community of life in her garden, her flowers invite universal questions of existence and purpose in their quest for survival, eventual senescence, and rebirth.

The identifiable floral Images she creates are glazed and intertwined with her abstract underpaintings inspired by the recent awe-inspiring visuals of the universe. By recognizing the delicate balance required for both terrestrial and celestial ecosystems to thrive, she aims to provide a visual context for understanding the essential balance necessary to sustain life’s intricate harmony across all scales – from the tiniest flower to the grandest galaxy.

Employing imagery that balances both abstraction and realism, she is mirroring the delicate equilibrium needed for universal survival. Her extensive use of transparent glazing between the garden and the galaxy exemplifies the need for open discourse, which she believes is necessary to ensure the health and survival of all species.

Ahern’s artistic process involves employing unique techniques that she has continued to refine over the course of 50 years. Through the years of experimentation and refinement, she developed a distinctive approach to painting that reflects her artistic vision and also her philosophy. Through this layered, evocative imagery, she invites viewers to pause, contemplate, and cultivate a deeper appreciation for the fragile yet resilient web of life that sustains our world and cosmos.

The Atelier at Flowerfield shares Ahern’s commitment to promoting appreciation of the arts. As part of its mission, The Atelier strives to preserve beauty through the learning, understanding, creation, and enjoyment of art in all its forms.

Also Visit the website of The Atelier At Flowerfield: www.atelieratflowerfield.org

Mary Ahern Art Exhibition Announcement

Posted in Art Exhibitions, Meet the Artist, NEWS, Press Articles, Show Schedule | Tagged Exhibitions | Leave a reply

Art in the Park in Northport Village

Mary Ahern Artist Posted on July 1, 2016 by Mary AhernSeptember 5, 2018

For years I’ve participated in the Northport Arts Coalition Art in the Park summer time event. This annual event features Music, Dance, Poetry and over 30 Artists and Artisans showing and selling their creative work.

Sponsored by the Northport Arts Coalition this event is one of the featured cultural events of the summer season. Held in the picturesque town of Northport in the Village Green at the foot of Main Street by the harbor. 

During the year you can call for a private studio tour to see and discuss my work.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me for an appointment!

2016-07-09-art-in-the-park-IMG_0743

 

Posted in Meet the Artist, NEWS, Show Schedule

Dream Chasers.

Mary Ahern Artist Posted on January 4, 2008 by Mary AhernApril 3, 2018

At midlife, taking lower pay to begin more satisfying careers

By Arlene Gross
Newsday Masthead
Special to Newsday
11:07 AM EST, January 4, 2008

newsday-mary-ahern-studio

Newsday photo of Mary Ahern painting in studio

Mary Ahern had (experimented) in art for many years, but had never been able to actually make a career of it. Until four years ago, that is, when she made the switch to full-time artist.

“I had always been a creative artist,” the Northport resident, explained. “Life, however, intervened, and as a single parent, I was never able to create my art on a full-time basis.”

Changing careers at midlife is no small feat, and switching to one with substantially less earning potential is more difficult still. According to Randy Miller, founder and president of ReadyMinds, an online career counseling service, downsizing a career can be a source of great anxiety.

Newsday photo of Mary Ahern painting in studio

Yet for some people, any fear or hesitation is mitigated by the yearning to follow a dream. Seeking more spiritually uplifting endeavors can be the ultimate challenge, and Miller said any attendant loss of income is often compensated with a renewed sense of purpose and newfound happiness.

“There are a lot of people who go through life and think, ‘What if?'” Miller said. “With a strategic plan, coupled with the new passion and ultimate objective of doing something different, one can more easily achieve their ultimate goals.”

For Ahern, a new husband provided the impetus and financial support to move forward. Income, the couple concluded, was less relevant to the quality of their lives than the legacy they wish to leave behind.

Newsday photo. Mary Ahern working in her digital studio.

“When we married, Dave urged me to follow my dream,” she recalled. “The hard part at first was trying to find inside myself what that dream actually was. You spend so much time marching forward and doing what you do, you lose the essence of yourself.”

Once their five children — all from previous marriages — were finished with college, Ahern felt it was OK to follow her calling.

“My income from my art doesn’t yet come close to the money I’m used to making in either my career in computer graphics equipment sales or my own graphics design firm,” she said.

One of her greatest sacrifices was a big dip in retirement savings, which now come exclusively from her husband’s salary.

“We have a comfortable nest egg,” she said, “but by coming out of a conventional career, I no longer have the extra cushion to add to my existing portfolio of tax-advantaged savings vehicles.”

Despite her diminished earnings, Ahern says she is happier. “I am living the life I am meant to live,” she said.

Moving beyond money

Though financial rewards are, undoubtedly, necessary for life on Long Island, there are many people, experts say, who yearn for a sense of personal satisfaction and deep-down fulfillment, something that money just can’t buy.

According to career counselor M J Feld, of Careers By Choice in Huntington, more and more individuals are making such changes in their lives. “In particular, because corporate America has become a source of alienation to lots of workers,” Feld said, “we have a lot of folks looking to build their own road. It is no longer about what looks like success; it is about what feels like success.”

For Lisa Hodes, 41, of Huntington, the desire to be closer to her kids and have a simpler life spurred a decision to buy a local business. Hodes had been a stay-at-home mom until her divorce in 2002 necessitated returning to work.

“After being home with my kids, I didn’t want them to feel a drastic change,” she said, so she settled, temporarily, on a management position at a Plainview firm specializing in discounted health plans.

Before marrying, Hodes had worked as a management consultant for Fortune 500 companies, traveling on business a few days each week, three out of every four weeks. “I loved work, but I didn’t have much of a personal life,” she recalled.

At her temporary post, Hodes said, she felt something was always being compromised. “My kids weren’t getting enough of me,” she said, “and I wasn’t getting any of me. Nobody was being satisfied — even though there was a greater earning potential over the long run.”

Searching around for other possibilities, Hodes spotted a “For Sale” sign at Sweetie’s Candy Cottage in Huntington, a sweets emporium minutes from her home, and decided to take the plunge.

“Now I work around their schedule,” she says, referring to sons Cole, 9, and Quinn, 7. “I’m home after school every day and there for anything school-related.”

Another factor in Hodes’ decision to escape the corporate world: her disdain for bureaucracy and having to go through endless channels to get simple decisions approved. “Now if I feel that something should be done, it is done,” she said. “No waiting — just do things for the right reason and get on to the next.”

And now, she adds: “I remember what is important to me: family and living life in a certain way.”

Accomplishing the switch, however, meant losing the security of a regular paycheck.

“It’s a very unpredictable, seasonal income,” she admitted. “With children, that’s very hard. It means I can’t plan for any particular college and retirement savings. The way it works in our house is we only buy things at the holiday season, because that’s when we have a little bit of extra money.”

“You have to admire the courage of someone who gives up their income and their social status for the values that they’re trying to uphold,” said Susan Peterson, president of A-1 Resumes Inc. of East Norwich, who is also an adjunct professor of philosophy at Nassau Community College. “It’s not an easy thing to do.”

Over the past 18 months, headhunter Lhea Scotto-Laub said, she has seen a trend toward baby boomers taking positions with significantly less financial potential than the ones they previously held.

Scotto-Laub, president of Quantum Career Services in Jericho, said these people have realized they “want more — intellectually, emotionally and socially — and that something’s missing. They want more gratification in the new position that they’re seeking.”

After a three-decade career teaching college-level biology, Roberta Koepfer definitely thought something was missing.

“Although I had always enjoyed teaching, when I examined my life, I realized I had grown as much as I could,” the Bayside resident said. “The lab and the lecture hall had become too confining. I felt a need to explore these other spiritual interests I had.”

Her search ended at her daughter Diana’s wedding in 2005, where the ceremony was performed by Kim Kirkley as a celebrant, someone who officiates at ceremonies or rites.

“After speaking with Kim, I instantly felt that I had found the new direction … I had been seeking,” she said.

Two years later, Koepfer, now 65, became a celebrant and has presided over a handful of ceremonies.

She and her husband have never had an extravagant lifestyle, she said, but they have still had to adapt to her lowered income. “I don’t need business clothes anymore,” she explained. “I eat out less. My biggest cut was in buying books.”

Still, the greatest and scariest challenge, she said, was giving up a secure position and knowing that there was no turning back.

“But I wasn’t happy anymore doing what I did,” she declared. “Since I retired [from teaching], a whole new world has opened up for me.”

Recently, Koepfer decided to add the title of chaplain to her resume, and as part of her studies, will be doing a 100-hour internship at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison for women in Westchester.

The joy factor

Another “chaplain-in-training,” Karl Nelson, of Huntington Station, had considered going into semiretirement, with the benefit of savings, a small pension and Social Security payments.

“I was working for a nursing home in Queens,” he said. “While I was there I had to recruit a new chaplain. The three women who applied for the job had all taken this clinical pastoral education.”

While checking one of the candidate’s references, his conversation with the program director piqued his interest in the profession.

After talking it over with his wife, Nelson decided to pursue a new career and in 2006, at the age of 67, began a yearlong course for clinical pastoral education. He is now finishing up a certification program while working as a chaplain at Good Shepherd Hospice in Port Jefferson Station, where he plans to remain once he finishes the course.

Of his 40 years in health care administration, which included serving as chief executive of Booth Memorial Medical Center in Queens, Nelson said, “I had a lot of big jobs with big staff. That work was very rewarding, but it was all management work. It was not dealing directly with patients.”

Now, as chaplain, he ministers directly to patients, counseling them and their families.

“The direct contact with people,” he said, “is so rewarding.”

What he’s losing in income — at the peak of his former career he made over $100,000 a year more than he does now — he’s making up in personal joy.

“I’ve never had a richer, more fulfilling experience in my life,” he said. “As people approach death, they become very aware of the spiritual aspect of their lives. I can help them navigate this journey.”

For years, Nelson ritually set aside 10 percent of his salary toward retirement. Today, he’s living largely on those savings, which, he said, have grown over the years, and he no longer is saving from salary.

His daughter has finished graduate school, so Nelson no longer has to support her. And to further make up for the salary differential, he and his wife have cut back on restaurant meals, movies and theater outings in the city. Vacations are shorter and closer to home, and since he’s no longer commuting, he’s saving on gas, tolls and parking.

“There’s no magic to it — it’s very careful attention to detail and a little belt-tightening. The little things really add up to make a difference.”

Paul Jenssen, 51, of Searingtown, moved from a lucrative career in investment banking to teaching because he yearned to leave a different sort of legacy. The move was made possible by years of prudent living and careful financial planning.

As he and his wife made increasingly more money, he explained, they shifted the higher earnings directly into higher savings. “We didn’t really grow our lifestyles as our incomes grew,” he said.

After years of working and saving for the education of their two children, Jenssen, an investment banker and financial planner, and his wife, Debra Esernio-Jenssen, a pediatrician, realized they could get by with significantly less income if they watched what they spent.

“My goal was to minimize the luxuries so that we don’t have to dip into our savings,” he said.

Luxury cars, according to Jenssen, offer a perfect example of something people can easily do without when they’re downsizing. He traded in his Lexus sedan for a Mazda, and the two have cut back on vacations and dining out.

Jenssen, whose last post was chief financial officer of an investment bank, explained: “I had gotten into accounting by default, to support myself. I always had an idea that I’d like to do something different at some point.”

Over the years, he had pondered career possibilities. “I always liked history as a kid, and I’d thought about teaching for a while.”

A trip to Tanzania in 2007 with a group of high school students from Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville cemented his decision to teach. He was impressed by African students who, he said, sacrifice everything for their ticket out of poverty: education.

“I would like to teach social studies in a way that connects to the children,” he said, “in a way that I would have liked to have been taught.” Jenssen started taking classes last January and is now observing other teachers, and loving it all.

“To be in school with younger people is fun,” he said, “and I find it very energizing. The side benefit of it is I get to delve into a subject I love and look at it with a more mature perspective.”

Up next for Jenssen is student teaching and completion of his master’s program in education by the end of the summer. Come next fall, he’ll be out looking for a full-time teaching position.

“The idea of having a legacy, more than making money, and at the same time rediscovering history to teach it, is both a challenge and reward,” he said.

For those downsizing careers, living their dream is their reason for being.

Roberta Koepfer sums up the transitional journey with one of her favorite quotes from the ninth century Japanese poet Akiro No Narihara:

“I have always known that at last I would take this road, but yesterday I did not know it would be today.”

Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.

Posted in Meet the Artist, NEWS, Press Articles

Artist Cultivates Her Livelihood Like a Garden

Mary Ahern Artist Posted on June 13, 2007 by Mary AhernApril 29, 2023

Mary Ahern has green thumb for botanicals & business.

By Arlene Gross

2007-06-The-Times-headerJune 13, 2007 | 02:39 PM

2007-06-13-garden-photo2

Northport resident Mary Ahern is a successful artist who practices a unique technique she describes as “digital” painting.

But Ahern, who will be among the exhibitors at Arts in the Park in Northport July 8, was not born an artist. “I didn’t come to paint until I was older,” she said. “I didn’t even know I had a facility for it.”

As a young girl, she focused on music: playing trumpet and saxophone for the high school band and conducting her Fort Hamilton High School graduation in Brooklyn with a rousing rendition of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

“I’ve been in the bleeding edge of those kinds of issues,” she said. “In those days, girls didn’t conduct.”

A life-changing moment came in her 20s, when a friend gave her a coffee table book of Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings.

“I opened it up and turned the pages and wept,” she recalled. “It was completely transforming. I could only look at 10 pictures a day, it was so overwhelming.”

From that moment, Ahern knew she must study art and, then a resident of Queens, attended Queens College.

Although she was influenced by O’Keefe and painted similar subjects, such as close-up and sensual florals, Ahern said she did not mimic her idol’s technique. Whereas O’Keefe painted with direct and rapid strokes, Ahern’s traditional paintings were created in grisaille, or gray scale, and layered with washes of pigment on top, giving the subjects a glow through the optical blending of glazes of pigment.

After divorcing her first husband, Ahern took a job at Barnard College’s career counseling office, where she herself was able to get some career guidance. Through her Barnard position, she attended Columbia University for free by working there while raising sons, Chris and Michael, then ages 10 and 8.

“I knew if I couldn’t stay home and be a mom and paint, I had to make a decision: I’m going to make as much money as possible,” she said.

With profit in mind, Ahern went into technology sales, selling computer graphics and eventually becoming Northeast regional sales manager at Chyron Corporation in Melville. Then she started Online Design, a digital graphics company.

For Ahern, feminism was not a word to bandy about but, rather, her day-to-day reality — working as a single mother in a male-dominated industry.

“My single-minded focus on providing a good life for my sons enabled me to ignore the tremendous obstacles, prejudice, emotional assault and loneliness that comes from breaking through social barriers,” she said. “I, like my father, pulled myself up by my bootstraps. As a woman in a male industry however, I, like Ginger Rogers, did everything in high heels and backwards.”

In 1989, Ahern fulfilled her dream of buying a house with a spacious garden in Northport, which she said, “was like a step back in time to a slower and more gracious lifestyle.”

“The center of town with a Main Street embedded with trolley tracks leading to the harbor breezes and music in the gazebo captured my attention and insisted upon my attendance. I needed to move here.”

Eleven years later, she renovated her home, adding an airy, second floor art studio, and now natural light trickles throughout.

The garden, which Ahern designed, encircles the house, with its artfully designated focal points and meandering paths, everything flowing gracefully.

“I practice nonviolent gardening — no rose bushes to stab you — all soft inviting plants,” she said.

Seventeen years after her first marriage ended, Ahern married David Ruedeman, an engineer at Chyron. The couple worked together there but got to know one another only when he became a client of Online Design. This year will mark the couple’s 10th anniversary…

Early on in the second marriage, wishing to reinvent herself, Ahern got a degree in horticulture from SUNY Farmingdale in 2000, with the idea of becoming a landscape designer, which she did for a year.”It was too much for my… body,” she said, of the many hours spent working on bended knees.

From there, it was a two-year course studying botanical illustration at the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx.

Her photographic painting, a culmination of expertise paralleling her life’s progressive journey, combines a passion for the fine arts, gardening, computer graphics and botanical painting.

“To be creative, you need to know your medium,” Ahern said of her computer graphics skills. Through her paintings, she seeks to make people look around them and become more aware of the nature surrounding us.

Dr. Roberta Koepfer, her friend since 1971, said, “She’s like a phoenix. I have seen her rise up from a fair number of devastating experiences. Every time she comes back, she comes back more dynamic, more focused on her art and with an increased zest for life and personal growth.”

When it came time to sell her art, Ahern’s business savvy came in handy; she started in Northport as an exhibitor at the annual Arts in the Park series and now participates in about 15 art shows in New York and Connecticut between May and September, with her husband lending a hand.

Ahern’s work has also been the focus of several gallery exhibitions, including a one-person show at Greenlawn’s Harborfields Library this past February.

Susan Hope, gallery coordinator for the library, noted that Ahern’s exhibit was well timed: her cheerful florals brightened the gloom of winter. “It has an eye catching appeal,” she said. “People really enjoyed it, whether they were art savvy or just seniors on their way to their meetings.”

Today, Ahern is either painting her botanicals, selling them or lecturing on the business of art at libraries or schools, although her business persona has changed radically over the years.”I did trade shows in high heels and silk suits,” she said, “now I’m doing business in Birkenstocks and shorts.”

To anyone seeking career guidance, Ahern advised, “Don’t throw away anything you’ve done because you want to transform yourself. Take the good portions, the positive elements and try to incorporate them into this new self you’re creating. That’s how I’m living my life.”

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