"Painting Resilience: The Life & Art of Fred Terna" by Julia Mayer -- the most important project I have ever worked on
On Saturday at 3 PM Julia Mayer and Fred Terna will be doing a live free ONE HOUR Zoom talk under the auspices of The Brooklyn Public Library. Fred Terna is 97 years old and is finally telling his life story that Julia carefully coaxed out of him over six years. I've seen one of these events, and can tell you first hand, it's unforgettable.
I can envision this book turning into a film -- a documentary or a feature film -- or even a soul-stirring musical presentation. The book encompasses so much history we know, yet is a story we've never heard before. It is written from the point of view of a man at the end of a long and fascinating journey, a life that almost ended at 21 years of age, but has perservered remarkably instead.
If you have an hour on Saturday you can carve out of your day -- 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern -- you can register now to get the zoom coordinates emailed to you in advance. Here's where you register (remember, it's free -- the most important hour you'll spend so far this year). I'll be in the audience, and am reading the book for a second time to prepare. Hope to see you there -- https://www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/painting-resilience-life-virtual-20210123
I made this video for it, which will play just prior to the talk on Saturday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B3RxcTDEbo&feature=youtu.be
"Painting Resilience" gets my highest recommendation possible -- and the author, young Julia Mayer, is giving every penny of royalties to the Holocaust Museum, which also holds Fred's brother Tommy's harmonica as one of its exhibits. That story is just one of the revelations of this book.
You can buy it directly from Julia at her website, juliamayer.com, which is the best way to get it. It's her "author's printing" on high grade stock that shows off Fred's work best. She has done an amazing job of research. Even the footnotes are fascinating!
Onwards and upwards!
Christine