Jeanette Himmel
Artist

About Jeanette
As a working artist, I used photographs in my collages and assemblages and as a reference for my painting. Computer enhancement has allowed me to expand my range and use photography as a creative expression in its own right.

In 2004, the Art Students League purchased one of my assemblage works for their permanent collection. In 2005, my watercolor "Autumn Colors" received an Honorable Mention at the Laguna Woods, California art show, my photograph "Getty Detail" was chosen for an exhibition at the Palm Springs Desert Museum and the Salmagundi Club in Manhattan selected my photograph "Tree at Disney Center" for their annual juried show. In 2006, fifteen of my photographs are part of a one-month group exhibition at the Westbeth Gallery in New York.

Professionally, while directing a large Senior Citizens Center, I initiated an oral history project, using art and photography to document the life experiences of participants. As director of the New York City Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, I advocated for nursing home residents. In addition to protecting residents' rights, I also encouraged the use of art and photography to enhance their quality of life. After retiring, I developed and taught classes for seniors using collage and photography to create personal histories.

See Jeanette's website

After selling my business, I spent 12 years volunteering as a teacher and coordinator of the Seniornet learning center at Hudson Guild.

Photography had been a long time interest, but it became more central after retirement. I studied film photography at Cooper Union and at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. My present winter location at Laguna Woods, California provides advanced classes in digital slideshow production, printmaking and video.

I was never very good in the darkroom so I began using Adobe Photoshop software, with a digital scanner and printer, long before owning a digital camera. Now most of my pictures are also taken digitally. My computer background allows me a range of creative options that I could never have hoped to achieve in a traditional darkroom setting.