Know Your Neighbors – Joel Cohen
Thank you to Clark Semmes for his new series “Know Your Neighbors” about our interesting neighbors right here in Mount Washington.
Even in a neighborhood filled with dog lovers, Joel Cohen stands out. Wander by his house on South Road with a canine in tow, and Joel will frequently rush out to visit with your pooch. He might even get down on all fours to give your dog a personal greeting. Perhaps it is no wonder then, that when Joel began painting, canine portraiture soon became his specialty.
A men’s clothing manufacturer by profession, Joel didn’t know he possessed any artistic ability until he began helping his neighbor, artist Gladys Goldstein, catalog her work. As they sorted paintings together, Gladys soon recognized that Joel had a “good eye” as well as a good sense of color and encouraged him to begin expressing himself artistically. Unconvinced, Joel created a simple stick figure drawing to amuse his friend and demonstrate his lack of ability. When Gladys hung this drawing in her home, Joel realized she was serious and he soon began painting in earnest. Beginning with collage and then moving to abstract painting, Joel soon branched into satirical works before finally settling on his current subject matter – dogs.
Today Joel paints and works out of the home he has shared with his wife and muse, Norma Cohen, for the past 23 years. Son Zach lives in Arlington where he works as a financial adviser. Joel paints almost every day for at least two and as many as six hours, and almost every piece features at least one of man’s best friend. With more than 140 completed canvases, Joel can’t wait to get started on each new piece.
Recently, friends and neighbors have been asking Joel to create portraits of their own beloved pets, a development that Joel describes as “great fun.” Joel currently has 22 dog renderings on display at the soon-to-open Falls restaurant here in Mt. Washington and others hanging at the new Boston Street Veterinary Clinic. In September he had his first one man show at the Hyattsville Mill Arts Project in Clarksburg, Md.
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Thank you for this story; it is great to know what skills people have around here that others may be interested in. And thank you for the web site – it is a great resource and it looks great!