Canvas Rhythm

Painter Lee Rumsey celebrates the worlds of dance and music in an exhibit at the Princeton Thelogical Seminary.

By: Matt Smith

Painter Lee Rumsey didn’t begin painting seriously until her late 30s. Above, "Silent Journey."

Left, "Catching the Rhythm" depicts a scene from an African drum and dance workshop. Above, "She Touches My Spirit."

   Lee Rumsey’s career as an artist got a bit of a late start, but don’t tell her.
   "I’m not sure if I like to think of it that way," contends the 60-year-old Ms. Rumsey, who didn’t start painting until her late 30s and didn’t devote herself to her art full time until age 50.
   Speaking by phone from her Devon, Pa., home, Ms. Rumsey says she was an artistic child and then teen-ager — before life intervened.
   "I had always loved art and was one of those kids who sketched horses all over her books," says the New York City native, who grew up in Paoli, Pa. "Even in high school I won an award."
   Ms. Rumsey started a family at an early age and raised two children as a single mother. She worked as a elementary school teacher while completing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the evening, then accepted a job running a program at Peirce College in Philadelphia for women who, like Ms. Rumsey, were returning to school.
   In 1980, after mentioning to a friend that she’d like to try sketching and painting again, Ms. Rumsey was talked into signing up for a summer course in landscape painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
   "If I had known how experienced and talented they (the other students) were, I never would have gone," she says. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Rumsey was majoring in painting at PAFA and studying under the late Jimmy Leuders, a fixture on the Philadelphia art scene.
   Twenty years and countless paintings later, she is bringing a solo exhibit, Celebration, to the Princeton Theological Seminary Aug. 19-Oct. 11. No longer a landscape painter, Ms. Rumsey’s most recent works are joyful, colorful pastels and acrylics inspired by the world of dance.
   "I had always loved dance and always went to see the Alvin Ailey dance troupe (when they came to town)," she says, "and I had tried once to go to a dance rehearsal and sketch, but it was so difficult, I never thought about it again."
   In the mid-1990s, Ms. Rumsey attended a life-changing solo performance by Philadelphia dance wunderkind Rennie Harris.
   "He performed ‘Endangered Species,’ which has no music, dancing to a recording of his own heartbeat," she says. "In his own voice he told his life story, and he was passionate about the tragedy in his life, the loss of friends, and really expressed his courage. It was so passionate, so moving.
   "I took out a sketch pad not really knowing what I’d do. There I was sketching in the dark, line on top of line…and now I’ve done a number of paintings of him."

Above, "Celebration" is the title piece from her exhibit at the Princeton Theological Seminary. Below, right: Ms. Rumsey’s self-portrait shows her at her drum set, sticks in hand; left: "Soar."

   Another dance-related inspiration came two years ago at 2000 Feet, a festival in Philadelphia featuring dancers from around the world. Ms. Rumsey was particularly drawn to the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, considered the first professional contemporary dance company in China.
   Ms. Rumsey went to a rehearsal to capture the group’s mesmerizing combination of T’ai Chi and Eastern and Western dance. Instead of bringing along her sketchpad, she decided to come armed with a camera.
   "I’m not a photographer, and since you can’t use a flash, I had fast film," she says, "but the shots were still very blurry and had these after-images, these flashes of light that were very exciting; it looked like fire around this one particular dancer."
   Celebration will feature three paintings of the Chinese dancers, plus other "multi-cultural" works.
   "I’ve done paintings of dancers from different cultures — Chinese, African-American, African, Balanese, Japanese," Ms. Rumsey says. "It’s not a conscious thing, though."
   In the past few years, Ms. Rumsey has also fallen in love with drumming. She began attending African drum workshops with friends, one of which she captured "Catching the Rhythm," a painting depicting a scene at a workshop in Woodstock, N.Y.
   She’s since moved on to the drum set (her self-portrait shows her at the drums, sticks in hand) and timpani; "any percussion they’ll teach me." Now a proud grandmother of four, Ms. Rumsey brags about the fact that her oldest grandson, who’s 12, is now taking drum lessons.
   Ms. Rumsey, who also exhibited at PTS two years ago in a group show (The Arts of the Spirit), says the day-to-day business of her art career also makes serious demands on her life, especially when she’s preparing a show.
   "I’m always going back and forth between my studios at home and in Manayunk, and some days I just do business," she says. "It takes a tremendous amount of time and energy, between running to the framer, writing text, deciding which paintings to include, finishing a painting up… it consumes you."
   Still, Ms. Rumsey says she doesn’t feel her age when it comes to the creative pursuits that fill up her life.
   "I don’t think my work expresses any age dimensions. I’m not like Georgia O’Keeffe, who did so much at a young age, but I feel blessed. It’s better late than never."
Celebration, featuring the paintings of Lee Rumsey, is on view at the Princeton Theological Center’s
Erdman Gallery, Erdman Hall, 20 Library Place, Princeton, Aug. 19-Oct. 11. Gallery talk and reception: Sept.
25, 4:30 p.m. Gallery hours: Mon.-Sat. 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Sun. 2:30-6:30 p.m. For information, call (609)
497-7990. On the Web: www.ptsem.edu/ce