PEARL SWANGER, ARTIST

The third of five children, Pearl Swanger, nee Ginevsky, was born in 1918, the daughter of Rachel and Abraham Ginevsky of Irvington, New Jersey. Although she yearned to attend college as did her four siblings, Abraham thought it more practical for Pearl to attend secretarial school. She excelled in typing as she did in almost everything she undertook, but Pearl's creative ambitions took her far beyond the typewriter, as she loved playing Chopin on the piano, taking up causes, and painting and drawing the scenery around her.

It wasn't long before Pearl met her future husband, Saul, not surprisingly in an art class that Saul visited by way of his artist brother, Mark Swanger. Mark had told his younger brother that he just had to meet this marvelous, energetic and artistic woman, and so he did. Pearl was the art class model at the time, so their very first encounter was rather, shall we say, auspicious!

Pearl was involved in numerous activities throughout her rich and active life, including chairing the New Jersey Committee for a Sane Nuclear Society and revitalizing and serving as president of the Morris County Art Association. She had three children, two boys and a girl, who were brought up in a house full of music and art.

 Though Pearl was outspoken about current events and never shy in expressing her passion to make the world a better place, the corner of her life where she painted was a more private and personal place. With her paint box and canvases in the back of the family station wagon, she sought out her subjects in the rolling countryside of Morris County, New Jersey, the playful boats and summer cottages of Long Beach Island, and the backyards and tenements of Morristown. Occasionally she'd paint a still life in her studio, or attend a class and draw a nude in charcoal. Her main choice of medium was oils, though, and she often utilized the pallet knife in lieu of the brush.

Although taken down slowly and painfully with rheumatoid arthritis when in her 60's and 70's, Pearl continued to paint. When she was no longer able to hold a paint brush, she taught. When she taught, she tried to imbue her students with the love of seeing and the confidence to feel secure in painting as they truly felt. She was a real inspiration for her students, who treasured her words and kept them for future reflection in a series of audio tapes.

Pearl Swanger passed away on November 20, 1994, leaving behind hundreds of paintings, even after many of them had already been sold and given away prior to her death. Family, friends, neighbors, fellow artists, colleagues of Saul's, friends of friends, and strangers, all bought paintings by Pearl Swanger. But there were still so many paintings that Saul began giving them away to people who in turn donated money to a variety of charities, including the American Cancer Society and ALS Association, as well as a scholarship fund in her memory for graduating art students of Morristown High School, where Saul taught. Bob Schechner, former colleague of Saul's and a longtime friend, was instrumental in raising thousands of dollars for cancer research by disseminating Pearl's paintings.

The charities also include, the Lambertville Area Educational Foundation (LAEF), ARTWORKS (Trenton,NJ), South Hunterdon and Delaware Valley Municipal Alliances, Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK), RIDEPROVIDE (A Program Of Greater Mercer TMA),  Interfaith Caregivers Trenton, and three offices of the American Cancer Society in Lawrenceville, Cherry Hill and New Brunswick, NJ. Her paintings raised money for good causes as they made their way into many, many homes.

When Saul passed away in 2006, the remaining 150-200 paintings were stored in David and Deb Gainer's home in southern New Jersey, David being Pearl's nephew, a believer in good causes, and one who appreciated Pearl's work. Mr. Gainer not only continued the tradition, of which he'd been a big part during Saul's lifetime, of raising money through Pearl's paintings, but he accelerated the process, disseminating her work all over the eastern seaboard!

Pearlspaintings.com is being set up for several reasons: as a tribute to a gifted painter; as a place where people who own a Pearl Swanger painting can put their painting(s) up on the site in the Gallery; as a place where people may share stories about the Pearl Swanger painting they own or about Pearl as an artist and person, and as a place where owners of a Pearl Swanger work of art might be able to trade with other owners of her work.