Richard Zakin

Seven years Richard, still in my thoughts.

You are still in my thoughts Richard. I look at the pieces that you gave me over the years and the books you included me in and think of our long friendship.

Think of you quite often friend! Sometimes imagine we are still having some of those great conversations over a delicious ethnic meal in some interesting restaurant!

Still thinking of all the lovely times we had Richard. Miss our talks.

I thought this morning of Richard and something wise and insightful he said about me many years ago that is still true today,

Upon the urge to tell him , I looked him up and found that he had passed.

He was a wonderful teacher about art and also about life.

In a recommendation letter for grad school Richard wrote that I could do anything unusual but not so much the ordinary.

At the moment I am sitting in the lush vast flower garden that I grow in the heat of...

Richard Zakin was always around Tyler Hall when I got my art degree and inspired me to go into the Art Edu program at Oswego. He was so friendly, and always so interesting to talk to about his travels, his or his wife's work. That smile! Just so kind. He was making his playful plates with abstracted portrait or still life underglaze designs and rinsed his paint brushes in his recycled dofu containers. He loved good food and talking to people. He was loved and is missed.

When Richard retired from teaching I took his place at SUNY Oswego. I remember thinking then that I had some big shoes to fill. We became fast friends though, went on many adventures together visiting museums, galleries and he came back to Toronto with me a couple times when I was living there. Richard became an inspiration for me, he was driven to always be making artwork, but also always approaching his projects intellectually, thinking about how he could write about them to share his...

I met Richard in the late 70s. We became instant friends.
In the intervening years we shared many fine meals (mostly Indian & Chinese), travelled through the hill town of central Italy and had many long conversations in person and over the phone which covered a variety of subjects. That was the thing about Richard, his interests were varied, he could talk about anything and he did.
I will miss my friend, his support and his wit.
My condolences to Helen and his family.
Angelo di...