PITTSTON — Tobi Grossman has packed a lot of living in her 81 years of life — a life she feels has been full of growth.
An award-winning artist and an active leader in the fine arts community, Grossman spoke at the Meet the Artist event at the Pittston Memorial Library Nov. 18 sponsored by the Friends of the Pittston Memorial Library.
Born in Milan, Italy in 1937, Grossman and her family moved to the United States in 1939 before settling in upstate New York.
As a child, she was enamored with nature and the outdoors. She enjoyed listening to the babbling brook close to her home.
“I could recall falling asleep to the rhythm of the brook,” Grossman said. “The creek had lots of rocks, so I would just jump from rock to rock.”
Her early life experiences with nature would later be an influence on her art.
In her adult life, she met Howard Grossman, married and settled in King of Prussia. It was there she got involved with an Upper Marion Cultural Center where Howard became the first president. Over the next 13 years, the Grossmans had three daughters.
“Being involved in the cultural center was really the basis for me of finding myself as an artist,” Grossman said. “Early on, my family encouraged the arts.” It wasn’t unusual for her family to listen to opera every Saturday on the radio.
While living in King of Prussia, Grossman signed up for her first art class. While taking the class, she was influenced by artist Lawrence “Buzz” Davidson, a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, who went on to become a prominent sculptor and painter. Davidson became her mentor for 15 years.
“At my first class, I looked sad because I didn’t know how to paint, I looked around, hoping someone would rescue me,” Grossman said. “I asked, ‘Mr. Davidson, how do I paint?’ His answer was simple, ‘You put the brush in the paint and paint.’”
Davidson stayed with Grossman and offered her tips on painting.
“As soon as I started to use color, I went berserk,” Grossman said. “I don’t know how else to describe my love for color; I just painted everything. I just knew this was what I wanted and it was the most important thing in my life.”
Her love affair with art has existed for the last 60 years.
Eventually, her husband took a job at the Economic Development Council of NEPA and settled in the Back Mountain.
Grossman dove deeply into the art scene in Wyoming Valley by taking art classes at College Misericordia, now Misericordia University, in the early 70s. Upon graduation, she became the art gallery director at Misericordia as well as an art teacher to children and adults.
Over the years, Grossman’s art has consisted consist of drawing, acrylics, pastels, mixed media, oils and even black and white photography.
In addition to having her art hanging in many of the area’s fine art galleries, including a 3’ x 6’ mural that hangs in the entrance of B’nai B’rith in Kingston, Grossman sits on the board of the Pittston Arts Council, the Connecticut Pastel Society, Wyoming Valley Art League and the Barnes Foundation Museum.
Palmina Pavlico, of Pittston Twp., a member of the Friends of the Pittston Memorial Library, served as chair for the Meet the Artist event.
