Frank Owens, an acclaimed pianist, musical director, composer, arranger, and producer, passed away in a car accident in Washington, D.C., at the age of 90 in September 2023.
Frank’s influence spanned stage, television, and film. He served as musical director for Showtime at the Apollo and The David Letterman Show and arranged dance sequences for the film The Wiz. Throughout his celebrated career, he worked with icons such as Johnny Mathis, Shirley Bassey, Aretha Franklin, Chubby Checker, Julie Budd, Petula Clark, Freda Payne, Keith David, and many others. Yet he remained a humble mentor, quietly uplifting emerging artists and inspiring countless lives in the creative arts.
Recently, I met a lady who knew Frank Owens very well. Her name is Carmelle Marsh, a graduate of La Guardia School of Music and the Performing Arts. From there she went to Cooper Union, her dream school. “This was my biggest challenge after being told by many not to apply because it was too difficult to get accepted there. It gave me the strength to believe in perusing one’s dreams despite let downs in life.” Carmelle said. After her first year, however, she decided to leave the college; instead, she chose to travel and make the world her school.
After she traveled a bit, she started her own business at age 23 in silk screen printing. While attending a community event, it was there she met Frank Owens, an alumni of Music and Art.
She told me he was a dear friend to her whole family and that he had helped countless people, while remaining humble. He worked for very famous people, but also for people who only had hopes and dreams.
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He helped Carmelle in the arts and in music because she wrote, played guitar and sang, and would accompany her in the studios. He helped her daughter too when she was very little, learning piano.
“Life is so hard! Many times,” she said with tears. “I always felt I am not good enough, not doing enough, but he always encourage me, he believed in me and in my dreams!”
A few years later, Carmelle started a project with Frank to spread peace, love, and kindness, because she felt the world really needed it. One day he said something and ended it with, “As far as I’m concerned, we should paint the world with love.”
“After Frank passed away, he left a great void in all our lives. Many continue to honor his legacy in different ways.” Carmelle and her friend, Lynn Starr decided to pay it forward by building a collaborative platform and give back through mentorship, helping the younger generation with their skills, their passions, their talent; passing it on. Thus came the quote from Frank to “Paint the world with love.”
Life is a blank canvas
If life is a blank canvas and you have the tool to create, how would you paint your world?
Special thanks to Lynn Starr for her endless support and help with this project while still mourning the loss of your beloved husband, Steven and your musical director/friend/mentor, Frank Owens. Thank you, dear friends, Roberta, Cyd and Janice for traveling such long distances to come and support this project wholeheartedly. The three of you have brought joy, laughter, wisdom as well as your beautiful artworks to share. Your generous donations helped make this event possible. Thank you to all the participating master artists, esteemed writer/motivator- Gisela, mentors and students who have shared or donated pieces towards the walls for the cause. Huge thank you to Lois Wallace for her humanitarian heart, the owner of Highland Kitchen and Gardens. For over twenty years you have been nurturing families in the community with your delicious recipes and providing jobs for many youth and older job seekers. The Eggplant Meatballs you donated to the gallery event were a hit! Thank you to Il Castello Pizzeria and Kristt Kelly Office Supplies and Art Shoppe for your endorsements and Gift Cards to our student artists. Thank you, Kat for your mentorship in the community and making art supplies available to artist. Gordon, you have opened your door of opportunities for this project to unfold on the walls of your gallery. We are forever grateful to you.
Special thanks to Robert Marsh, an outstanding partner, father, and friend in the community. You have exuded tremendous patience and support towards this project. You show strength and resilience while enduring your own inner and outer struggles; always ready to lend a hand and help those in need. You are a fine example of a strong man with a kind heart– a true blessing in this life. As a Union Painter, Robert, you truly Paint the World with Love.
Meet our local artists
“I’ve been involved in the arts for a very, very long time.” Cyd said. She and Carmelle went to the same high school. They are good dear friends. One day Carmelle called Cyd for support for the art show in Port Jervis, so Cyd came up.
“I’d never seen myself as an artist. I had done other things. I was a nutritionist in my working life, but then I found clay. Clay became my love, really, clay, the ceramic arts for most of my life.” Cyd said. And then as she got older, she started to go back into painting. She dabbled in painting when she was younger, but she hadn’t done it for a very long time. However, now she mostly paints.
One of Cyd’s artwork is the Empire Diner in Chelsea, New York. People love to eat at this diner. It is very popular and has been seen in many television shows and movies, such as Manhattan, Home Alone 2, and Men in Black II. On the back side of a building, there are portraits of four modern artists: Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. “I thought it was really cool. This painting, it’s really huge, obviously you can see it takes up the whole side of a building.” Cyd said.
Another artwork of Cyd’s is the Chelsea Hotel. This 12-story red brick Victorian Gothic structured building was one of the tallest buildings in New York City. From Titanic survivors to famous people, writers, artists, musicians, and filmmakers they all stayed in this place. Some of them even lived in this place. Including Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Andy Warhol, Arthur C. Clarke, and Mark Twain.
Roberta Park is a New York City artist who specializes in acrylic painting. She is a graduate of the La Guardia School of the Arts and had also studied at the School of Visual Arts and SUNY Purchase. Her work has been exhibited at the City Views Exhibit at the office of the Manhattan Borough President and at Cherry Center of the Arts at their “Reigning Cats and Dogs” exhibit. She loves animals, especially her cat Ellie, who is her muse and is a frequent model for her paintings.
When I asked how you found yourself loving art? Roberta answers straightforward: “I’ve always loved the arts. I can’t explain why. I just do. There’s a while I know my mom had me take piano lessons, which I was like, crazy about. I think when I went to high school, that’s the first time I studied art formally, and I’m glad I did that.”
But sometimes even when we have a passion, we may not continue it for lots of reasons. But the passion is always there. When you pick it up again, it can really make you feel good, feel fantastic, feel stress free. That’s why Roberta got back into art again. When her husband passed away, she said: “I had nothing to do, so I started drawing my cat. That’s how that started. So, I drew my cat. I painted my cat, and it’s really helped a lot.”
When Roberta and Carmelle recalled Frank, they said he was a very unique human being; old fashioned classic gentleman (old-school), very well mannered. He would stand up when the ladies came to the room, hold the chairs and bow respectfully. He was a genius too, not only music in his mind, but also memorized hundreds of people’s phone numbers and addresses so easily. He never wrote them down, but kept in his head. And every year he would call everyone on their birthdays and play piano and sing Happy Birthday. Everyone that he knew, everyone! If he asked what’s your address, and you just told him. After you told him two or three times and he had it memorized for life.
Roberta also said: “I remember he liked to watch his money. He was frugal, yet he gave freely to those in need. He was a very good, kind, humble man.”
New York City sidewalk artist
Hani Shihada comes from a very large family. Because of the war in 1967 (Arab–Israeli war), he and his family, all became refugees. They had to walk about 40-50, miles to another country. It was a very rough time. He was just eight years old when this happened.
Shihada’s mother had 15 children, he was number 11, it was a very tough, very difficult time, with lots of pain and suffering. And of course, like any child, he looked for objects or something that could take his mind away from that chaos.
He loved art. He remembers his mother used to do embroidery. On his way to school, Shihada said: “I used to stop by galleries and look at artwork, and that was fascinating for me. It took my mind away. Beautiful art! It consoled me and I felt it made sense to me. Everything didn’t make sense, it was crazy! But art made sense, spoke to me even I was a child.”
Shihada kept looking at art and in school, when he was 13 years old, he had a caring art teacher who inspired him. “He made me feel good about myself. I felt like I’m worthy. I’m something.” Shihada added, “First, he asked me to draw hands. So, I draw my hand, then he showed all the students, look what Hani did. “I felt wow, I’m important. Now I’m somebody. Yes, this is where I really started.”
But Shihada was still afraid to become an artist. He was intimidated, he recalled: “You see this artwork, oh my God, how can you do it? But knowing that the human being can do this with his hands, maybe I can do it too.”
When he was about 14 years old, his teacher decided to make an art show, and he wanted Shihada to submit his work. “So, this is where I started, and I fell in love, since then, with the arts. I decided that I want to be an artist when I grow up, when I finish school, I want to go study art.”
He did. He finished high school, and he went to Italy studying art. He was poor. He didn’t have money, but he wanted to study anyway. He was hoping to get a scholarship. But he didn’t get it.
Shihada started to work during his studies, but it didn’t work for him. One day, he was walking on the streets and saw a girl who was drawing on the sidewalk, making big paintings. She was happy, she had the music, and she started dancing. “I want to be like her. She’s free, she does what she loves, she’s happy, she worked for herself. And people were looking at her work, and they were giving money, donations. I love this idea. Okay, that’s what I want to do. So, I started doing that, drawing on the sidewalk.”
Speaking of Italy, people will think about the three great Renaissance artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Off course, so does Shihada. He thought it was a great way to learn to copy the Masters, especially Michelangelo. “I love Michelangelo’s work. Because his lines were so strong, so solid, so robust, beautiful, perfect, oh, my God! so I trained myself.”
After that, he went to Spain, and he thought maybe living in Spain would be less expensive than Italy. But he still didn’t get a scholarship. He didn’t get support either, because he didn’t want to ask anybody. He wanted to be independent; wanted to be free. “I knew my family couldn’t afford it, especially back then for them, art was what? What do you do? What artist, starving artist, poor artists, this and that……go find a real job!”
“Even though I was still afraid, but this is what I did: I decided I didn’t need to go to school!”
“I decided to just work on the sidewalk. So, I started working on the sidewalk in 1979.” And this is what Shihada continued to do. He has been doing sidewalk art for over 40 years now.
He used to do it with chalk, but since the rain will wash it away, now he uses soft pastels. Then he sprays it with fixative. So, the work will last for several months. “Also, I need people to see it because this is how I get jobs. I leave my phone number on the sidewalk or my address my website, and people call me, they hire me to do jobs.” Shihada said he also worked for a movie, a Hollywood movie; they used him in the movies as part of New York.
But I was very curious, and I have one more questions for Shihada, so I asked: “Even though I know you had already protected your sidewalk painting now, but still, it will be gone in months anyway. So, what’s the motivation to keep you doing it?”
Shihada answered: “I love working. I love the idea to bring art to the sidewalk, to the people, to the average people, to everybody. Not everybody goes to museums. But also, I like the idea of public art. I like to share my work with the public. Just like that girl inspired me, I like to inspire other people.” “It’s for everybody. It’s something you cannot own.”
“I get immediate reaction, I get feedback. I like people tell me; people talk to me.
People are honest on the streets, and I don’t know who they are. Anybody can stop can talk to me and ask me questions and be curious about what I do. People feel happy. You feel motivated. They tell me nice things. Also. They’re very generous with me. People become really, very nice, very sweet. And this is what keeping me going back to the sidewalk, because the response from people is beautiful. People are very supportive, most people, because sometimes, once in a blue mood, I meet with somebody who’s crazy, mean, but usually, most of the people are very nice and very supportive. And this is why I keep going back, because I love this interaction with people.”
“I like feedback, and I feel like I accomplished something. I did something. It’s evident. You can see it. It’s right there. It’s a very honest job, very direct, straight forward!”
