Orenstein explores reinvention in upcoming pictures exhibit

When Julian Orenstein entered his mid-60s and commenced confronting what he described because the “poorly lit and unfamiliar path of retirement,” he selected to begin over.

Encouraged by his spouse, Heather, Orenstein started pursuing a brand new profession as an artist. Nearly 4 years later, that call has produced “Ancient Toddler: A Retrospective on 3 Years as an Artist,” a solo pictures exhibition opening this month on the Marblehead Arts Association.

The exhibit will run from Saturday, Sept. 26, by Saturday, Oct. 31, on the affiliation’s galleries at 8 Hooper St. It will characteristic 32 pictures taken throughout the United States, Europe, Africa and Antarctica.

The assortment consists of landscapes, road pictures, cemeteries, digital photographs and phrase collages, reflecting Orenstein’s first a number of years of experimentation as a critical artist.

Orenstein, a pediatric emergency doctor, has lengthy been eager about pictures, notably nonetheless pictures. His work has appeared in juried exhibitions throughout the North Shore and in Denver.

The exhibition grew from Orenstein’s uncertainty about retirement and what would comply with it.

“It’s funny how it creeps up on you,” Orenstein mentioned. “I really had avoided the thought of what I’m going to do, what I want to do, for long enough that the more I thought about it or approached it, the more I wanted to avoid it.”

His perspective started to vary after he acquired encouragement to proceed doing significant work as a substitute of treating retirement as the purpose at which it should finish.

“He said, ‘Don’t retire. Just keep doing what you can,’” Orenstein recalled. “It’s these people who retire; they just lose interest. They lose their sense of purpose.”

Around the identical time, Orenstein and his spouse had a New Year’s dialog about what they needed to pursue subsequent.

“We said, ‘Let’s be artists. Let’s both be artists,’” he mentioned. “The power of just saying it was big.”

The exhibition’s title displays the weird place during which Orenstein now finds himself: starting a creative profession whereas additionally navigating the much less glamorous realities of growing old.

“I’m still at that childlike stage of exploring everything,” he mentioned.

Beneath the humor is an exhibition centered on starting once more. Orenstein mentioned the gathering is about “restarting and reinvention” and the chances that may emerge from taking an unfamiliar course later in life.

“The more I leaned into that second piece of ‘don’t retire,’ it really seemed like a very smart way to go forward,” he added.

His conclusions are to make use of your items, discover the world straight in entrance of you, and discover the artwork inside it.

The affiliation will maintain a free opening reception Sunday, Sept. 27, from 2 to 4 p.m. Visitors will be capable of view the work, meet the artists, and revel in complimentary refreshments.

The reception may also have a good time the Marblehead Arts Association’s different fall exhibitions, together with solo reveals by James Bostick and Susan Irene Correia.

Orenstein will return to the affiliation Saturday, Oct. 3, from 2 to three p.m. for an artist speak titled “Take! Better! Pictures.”

The Marblehead Arts Association galleries and artisan retailer are open Wednesday by Sunday from midday to five p.m. Additional data is out there at marbleheadarts.org. Orenstein’s work can be discovered on Instagram at JBOrenstein_photography.