Tom Malloy Exhibit at the Trenton Library

Lewis Carroll wrote in Alice in Wonderland, "'Begin at the beginning,' the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop."

Such simple advice, but sometimes the story is more complicated than that. In writing about seeing the Thomas Malloy exhibit at the Trenton Free Library, do I start with learning about Thomas Malloy, or do I start with going to the exhibit? Or do I start in the middle.

I think for this story, I'll start in the middle. Circle back to a beginning. Move onto the end. Then conclude with thoughts for a beginning. 

A couple of weeks ago I went on a free walking tour of Trenton (love sightseeing in my backyard) and met Nicole. Nicole was the only person on the tour about my age, and the only one also taking pictures of the Seward Johnson sculptures. We struck up a couple of side conversations, one about the weekly roller skating meet up in Cadwalder Park in Trenton. The next time I went to the meet up I texted Nicole to join me. She said she was at an exhibit of Tom Malloy art, some of which was from her personal collection. Same time a friend shared on Facebook that he was at the same exhibit. At that moment, I wished I had learned about it sooner and had also gone.

I googled the exhibit (we live in amazing times where we have so much information at our fingertips) and told Don about it. A couple of days later, we went to see the exhibit. It is there through September 23, but life is getting busy.

The library is a vibrant part of Trenton.
It hosts the Trentonia Room, which is
the archives for the City of Trenton.
The room is open during the day for researchers and people with an interest in local history. It is a treasure!

In 2001, then Mayor Douglas H. Palmer named Thomas Trenton's Artist Laureate for the way he captured our capital city. He painted it warts and all, and made it look beautiful.

According to the zine created for the exhibit, he was born in South Carolina in 1912. He passed away in Trenton in 2008 at the age of 95.

Not long before his death we had the honor of meeting him in his apartment. We wanted to purchase one of his pictures. We *really, really, really* wanted to purchase one of his pictures. We looked at his scant collection and saw nothing of interest. Locally he is most famous for painting Trenton.

His zine went on to say in his 40s his wife encouraged him to chronical the city through watercolors -- a journey that continued for 50 years. He was self-taught.  In his mid-fifties he began to mesh his love of religion, community service, and Trenton through his watercolors of old New Jersey farmland and Trenton. In 1967 he had his first display in what was then called the Trenton Public Library. Later exhibitions took place in Queens, in the University of Pennsylvania Museum, and at Ellarslie Museum in Trenton, which he helped establish.

His artwork is permanently on display in the Tom Malloy Room at Ellarslie, and glicees of his artwork are for sale in the gift shop.

Love the way his art is folded into a box

This one of Atlantic City spoke to me

An aerial view of the exhibit.

I saw Nicole's art. My favorite from her collection was a small one of a streetcar.

This post could end here, except today I was invited to Stacy's non-profit's law firm's office. In 2018 I donated a bunch of her Trenton works to the law firm. At the time they were located in Trenton and served clients in Trenton. Stacy framed the art on the cheap by purchasing a mat cutter and making her own mats. They look classy.

Most are in the library

Two are in a client room

One is in the lobby

Looking at the work by the two artists I realized they found this passion later in life. there is still time for me to find mine -- even if it is not painting watercolors. 

This might not even be the end. This might be a new beginning.