(Image: Todd Matthews)

Meet the Capitol Hill Artist is an occasional series on CHS documenting the lives of the neighborhood’s artists and the creators behind the neighborhood’s galleries and arts venues

Call it kismet. Earlier this year, 85-year-old painter and Capitol Hill resident Elinore Bucholtz treated herself to a shampoo at a Broadway salon and noticed art on the walls. She asked the owner, Heather Caldwell, if she might consider hanging her abstract paintings. Caldwell liked what she saw, and, last month, Bucholtz hung 10 of her bright and colorful paintings at Capitol Hill’s Kismet Salon & Spa.

“She told me she liked changing things out and wanted to put my work up,” said Bucholtz during a recent interview at the salon. “Really, she gave me the opportunity.”

It’s hardly the first time Bucholtz has displayed her art in the neighborhood. Her work has been shown at Chophouse Row, Starbucks on Olive Way, Ada’s Discovery Café, and Roy Street Coffee & Tea—all during Capitol Hill Art Walk. She’s had solo shows at Joe Bar, Café Ladro in Edmonds, Fresh Flours Bakery on Beacon Hill, and Equinox Gallery in Georgetown. Not bad for someone who moved to Seattle in 2017 and only started to paint at age 56. “I never dreamed of doing art before then,” she said. “I couldn’t draw anything when I was young. I didn’t even doodle.”

Pinkie by Elinore Bucholtz

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Bucholtz was raised in New York, Arizona, and California. She majored in English and American Literature at UCLA, earned a teaching license, and, in 1961, moved to New York City, where she taught junior high school English for 25 years.

Bucholtz shared her experience as an abstract artist living on Capitol Hill. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Q: Your early paintings 30 years ago were representational and figurative—you painted people and objects.

A: I haven’t done those in years. A couple of years into taking workshops at the Art Students League of New York, I thought, If I have to do one more tree, leaf, or flower, I’ll shoot myself. So, I went abstract and found I was very comfortable with it. Color and shape were enough for me. I found I enjoyed color a lot. Almost everything I do is in color. There’s only one picture here at Kismet with black in it. I had to put in a little pink to give it a little something.

Q: How do you come up with ideas for what to paint?

A: I met a young man who asked me the same question. I couldn’t say because I take a brush, put the paint on the canvas, and then see where I should go. It’s not anything I work out ahead of time. They just happen. Maybe that’s because I didn’t go to art school. On the other hand, they’re a lot freer than what I’ve seen other people do.

Q: I’ve seen the term “abstract lyricism” associated with your paintings. What does that mean?

A: It’s when the work sings to you; it moves, almost as if it were dancing or singing rather than just sitting there.

Mainly Pink by Elinore Bucholtz

Carousel by Elinore Bucholtz

Q: You lived in New York City for more than 50 years. Tell me about that experience.

A: I was 23 years old when I moved to New York. It had everything I wanted—opera, concerts, museums, and Broadway. I found a Manhattan studio apartment I could afford. My first job was [teaching English at a junior high school] in Queens. To get to work, I took two buses and a subway or two subways and a bus—I can’t remember. I was late every day. After a few years, the principal wrote a negative report, and I had to say, “OK. I’m leaving. I’ll find another job.” So, I found a job teaching at a junior high school in Manhattan. In those days, if you had a job, you stuck with it. I retired as soon as I could.

Q: Why did you move to Capitol Hill?

A: I had an operation, and my son, who had moved to Seattle many years before, came to New York. He told me he wanted to take me back to Seattle with him. He works hard, and I couldn’t expect him to go back to New York every time I had a health issue. During my first year in Seattle, I lived with my son. Now I live in my own apartment [at the north end of Broadway]. I’ve lived in apartments my whole life, and this is the nicest one. It has two bedrooms and two baths. I use one bedroom for my art studio. My son and daughter-in-law live about a block away.

Q: What’s next for you? 

A: That’s a good question. An art gallery is opening across the street from my apartment. I left a note, hoping they would take a look at my work. Also, I will have some people over for ice cream cake for my 86th birthday on November 12. You know, I went to a psychic once, and they told me I would live to be 105 years old.

Elinore Bucholtz’s abstract paintings are on display at Kismet Salon & Spa, located at 512 Broadway E, on Capitol Hill. More information about Bucholtz is available online here and here.

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