An Artful Passion with Purpose

Warm and generously gifted, Margie Osheroff grew up in Tampa, Fla., and graduated in 1975 from Newcomb College of Tulane University. She packed her bags and was drawn to move to Atlanta thanks to the verdant topography. The hills and trees reminded her of her beloved summer experiences at Camp Blue Star, where she relished spending many summers.

At a young age, Osheroff’s interest in art was inspired as she enjoyed drawing and crafting. Her maternal grandmother, Minnette Shain Greene, was an artist who could draw, sculpt and paint, as well as a violinist with the Boston Women’s Symphony and, as a teenager, played with neighborhood friend, Leonard Bernstein, before he was known.

Although briefly an art major, Osheroff realized she didn’t want to work in that field, feeling that mixing money and art would stifle her passion and started sculpting in college and never stopped. Her love of art included an adoration of the Impressionists. She has studied with many Atlanta artists; her admirations range from Tina Watson, Marty Dawe, Kevin Chambers, Kirsten Stingle, Jan Buckley, Susan Krause to her husband, Steve Jarvis. A lover of figurative sculptures, she also enjoys multimedia artwork and never misses a craft show or a good art museum wherever she travels.

Osheroff shared, “My art communicates something that the observer can feel, and sculpting and watercolor have become an obsession with me. My drive to create art has gotten stronger with age, and now I have more time to do it in retirement. A week without doing art would be difficult for me.”

She added, “When I turned 72 last year, I decided to enter three of my sculptures in a juried art show at The Art Center in Johns Creek. They had a call for artists in the Southeast, and I had only been in one show before but not juried. One of my sculptures won second place out of 75 pieces of art. I was shocked and pleased. My art is my therapy, so I never really thought about putting it out for public consumption. It was very sweet to have received it in such a positive way. My friends and my husband kept pushing me to put my art out there, so I guess they knew better than I did.”

Osheroff’s first love is sculpting in clay because it is tactile and provides immediate gratification by using a medium that is so malleable. She said, “Each teacher I’ve taken classes by has added so much to my knowledge base and helped me develop a sense of my own style and more than anything developed my eye – as so much of art is about seeing. I’m sculpting once or twice a week at Blue Merle Studio in Avondale Estates with Susan Krause, who started the sculpture program at SCAD. She and her husband, Steve Jarvis (who also taught at SCAD), have a wonderful studio where creativity is at a premium and where students work in stone, clay, cement, wire, and other mediums.”

Osheroff has taken many art workshops both here and abroad. She said, “I love learning and sometimes take classes in other mediums from glass mosaic to a class on 3D printing, which my husband (a techy) took with me and he has taken a class with me on building bases for sculptures, as he is very handy at woodworking and it was a way that he could take part in my art. We have taken classes at Seniors Enriched Learning for many years and Steve volunteers as their tech support person and past president. I am voracious when it comes to combing Facebook groups on sculpture and other art forms, as this is a huge source of inspiration and ideas.”

On a final note, Osheroff shared, “Having done art throughout the past 50 or more years, I love seeing people at both ends of the life continuum being inspired by art. As a teenager, I taught young children art at the local JCC in Tampa and if there’s a child open to playing with clay, drawing or color, I’m their best playmate. Children don’t get to be kids for long these days, so I love that art inspires creativity, a break for the pressures of the outside world and allows the freedom of playtime.”

Osheroff added with passion and enthusiasm, “As we age, art can create a community where seniors thrive, increases joy and provide a healthy outlet from the challenges of aging. In my sculpture class, there are folks of all ages interacting in a place of shared creativity, supporting each other and sharing ideas. Some are older with some mobility issues, however, the immersion into their art takes them away from their limitations into a place where their talent and imagination know no limits.”