Meet artists and authors, Alice and Richard Matzkin

We spent a wonderful weekend with our friends Alice and Richard Matzkin at their home and art studio in Ojai, California. 

I always feel like I’m at an idyllic retreat when I’m there. It is so quiet, so lush with greenery and interesting things to look at, so filled with beautiful art, and the conversations are endless. Alice was my first friend when I moved to Los Angeles in 1961. We went to art classes together for quite a few years. Needless to say, she stayed with her painting. I found another creative outlet.

Around the Matzkin yard

We went up Friday night in time to hear Richard drumming with his jazz trio at a local Ojai restaurant. Besides being a drummer he’s a sculptor, mostly of aging men. Alice, a painter, has her work at the Smithsonian portrait gallery. Her commissioned painting of Chelsea Clinton once hung in the White House private residence.  Our portrait by Alice hangs prominently in our home.

 Alice, Chelsea, and Hillary, 1997

Madeline and Bob, 1998

Alice and Richard also wrote an award-winning book, THE ART OF AGING: Celebrating the Authentic Aging Self (Sentient Publications 2009), filled to the brim with photos of their artwork.

In this beautiful dual award winning art/inspirational book, painter, Alice Matzkin and sculptor, Richard Matzkin explore their fear and curiosity about aging through their art, writing and experience of growing older. (Alice's painting of the ceramist, Beatrice Wood, is on the cover.)

Please go to their online studio to see more of their wonderful paintings and sculptures.