Photo by Jerry Hark
Artist Diane Hark
Continues to Paint, Teach
The former she has always done;
the latter she picked up later in life
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
T en or 15 years ago, Diane Hark
started teaching watercolor painting
at nursing homes in South Jersey and
Philadelphia. She drove there, gave everyone materials
and paper and taught for two hours. Over
time, the Jewish artist added 20 to 30 nurs-
ing homes to her regular rotation.

Hark, then in her late 60s, had showcased
her watercolor paintings in local galleries
for decades. But the professional artist had
yet to try and pass on what she had learned.

As it turned out, she really enjoyed it.

And she’s been teaching ever since. After
the pandemic broke out in 2020, she shifted
her operation to Zoom.

12 MAY 5, 2022
“I never thought I would teach,” Hark
said. “I never thought I would’ve wanted to.”
The painter teaches four classes a week.

She has her own Zoom account and keeps
her own Excel spreadsheets.

“She’s running her own business,”
daughter Lisa Hark said. “I’m incredibly
impressed with what she’s doing.”
Hark’s students say she has a way of clar-
ifying the artistic process.

First and foremost, Hark tells her students
to look carefully at their canvasses, accord-
ing to Cynthia Saltzman, a Hark student and
Wynnewood resident. Then, once they start
painting, she repeats a key question.

“Where is the light coming from?”
Saltzman said.

That question can also be asked in
another, more literal, way, she said.

THE GOOD LIFE
A painting Diane Hark completed of
her grandchildren.

Courtesy of Diane Hark
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



“What are you trying to accentuate?”
Saltzman said.

For example, is it the tree or the bridge?
Whichever one it is, you need to make it
stand out on the canvas.

It must be the figurative center, even
if it’s not literally in the center. It must be
the light.

“What she’s doing is really breaking
down the steps you need to use in order to
see like an artist,” Saltzman said.

Saltzman tries to start a painting in a
Tuesday class and finish it by Friday. When
she started taking classes with Hark, she
often had too many competing subjects.

But now, Saltzman is fairly skilled.

She’s proud of her paintings of Golda
Meir, of candles and an etrog and of
various still-life landscapes. She sends
her family members her new painting via
email each Friday.

“When you’re new to something and
you’re a student, it’s almost like you’re a
child,” Saltzman said. “She’s able to put
us at ease and say to us, ‘This is not easy.

You need to realize that as you’re working
through this.’”
Another student, Abby Horowitz, said
Hark takes the time to go around to each
student during class to offer comments.

Her suggestions often do not seem
consequential at the time — until the
students finish their paintings and see the
difference. Friends make the
journey sweeter.

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JEWISHEXPONENT.COM THE GOOD LIFE
MAY 5, 2022
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