A recent Diane Hark painting of Ukraine President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Courtesy of Diane Hark
Horowitz gave her parents a couple
of the paintings she completed in
Hark’s classes; now they’re framed in
their house. One is of a platter of fruit.

The other is a boathouse with some
rowboats. “By the end of the class, you’ve painted
it,” Horowitz said of Hark’s suggestions.

“It completely changes the painting.”
Hark developed her instincts over
a lifetime of making the art that she
teaches about; but she had the artistic
gene even before she started learning,
she explained.

When Hark cooks, she does not
follow a recipe. She does it her way. She
takes the same free-flowing approach
to gardening, designing clothes and
making flower arrangements.

Hark’s sister makes fun of her
because she can’t follow a recipe. But
it’s just who she is.

“You’re born an artist,” Hark said.

“I certainly couldn’t be an accountant.”
But when your own kids are born,
you have to become more than what
you are and, after having four children,
Your thing.

Is our thing.

At Rydal Park and Waters,
only one thing matters.

Keeping you connected to the things
that matter to you. If it makes you
feel happy, motivated or secure,
you’ll find it here. To schedule a tour,
call (215) 999-3619 or visit RydalPark.org
Welcome to Life Plan Community Living.

16 MAY 5, 2022
THE GOOD LIFE
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



the artist put them first. She was a stay-at-
home mom who taught her children how
to cook, stay organized and be produc-
tive, according to Lisa Hark.

All the kids, Lisa and her younger
brothers David, Richard and Jeffrey,
grew up to do well for themselves, Lisa
Hark said. Today, the family includes 11
grandchildren, and they all still gather in
Margate, New Jersey, every summer.

“We’re very capable children,” Lisa
Hark added.

But even while staying at home, the
artist wasn’t. She kept painting and
painting, and then coordinated with
local institutions, like the Cosmopolitan
Club of Philadelphia, the Woodmere Art
Museum and the Philadelphia Sketch
Club, to put up galleries of her work.

Stay-at-home mom is not a fair classi-
fication of Hark’s role, as she continued
working professionally throughout her
children’s young lives. But her favorite
paintings remain the ones of her family.

There’s one of the grandchildren standing
together in the ocean, arms around each
other, water washing up against their
ankles. There are also the 11 individual
portraits that Hark crafted as Chanukah
presents for her grandkids.

Her kids and grandkids even some-
times depend on their matriarch to
enliven their offices and homes. Lisa Hark
has a house full of her mother’s paint-
ings, according to Diane Hark. Hark’s
granddaughter, Jamie Finkelstein, also
has several paintings in her home, of
the beach, of a scene from Israel, of
the Philadelphia Museum of Art and of
Philadelphia City Hall.

Yet none of the artist’s paintings
stand out quite like the ones that her
whole family sees every summer down
the shore. The kitchen and living room
in their Margate house are filled with
creations from when the grandkids were
young, according to Finkelstein. There
are rainbows, an ice cream cone and a
portrait of the Margate Yacht Club.

“They spark joy,” Finkelstein said.

For Hark, now 83, they also give her
a sense of peace. Much like her teaching,
Hark’s living, breathing paintings make
her believe that her work will outlast her.

“It comes down to sharing your life
experience. That’s what it’s all about,”
the artist said. “It’s that connection. That
unbroken connection. L’dor v’dor.” JE
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THE GOOD LIFE
MAY 5, 2022
17