AUDREY JACOBSON

JACOBSON--Audrey Platt, died on Saturday, May 19, 2012. She was born in New York City on March 9, 1928, the daughter of Joseph Platt and Anne Eisenberg Platt. A lifelong visual artist, she worked at her creations every day from the time she was 10 to the last day of her 84 year life. As a 14 year old she took the ferry from her home in New Jersey to Manhattan to attend classes at the Art Institute and the New School and spent a summer at the Yale School of Art. She continued her art studies and was graduated from Skidmore College in 1949 and from Parsons School of Design shortly thereafter. She married Dr. Jerry H. Jacobson in December, 1951 at her family home in New Jersey and they left for his tour of duty in the Air Force. She worked as an illustrator at the Air Base in Amarillo, Texas while they were stationed there. When discharged from service, the couple returned to New York, after the first trip of a lifetime of travel, by ship to Italy. She worked as artist and art director at advertising agencies in the city, and then opened an art gallery in Englewood, across the river from Manhattan in New Jersey. She was an indefatigable wife, homemaker and hostess to her many friends. Her integrity, sincerity and outgoing personality resulted in an uncanny ability to make friends wherever she went, among people of all stations. Her sons, John and Benjamin, were born in 1959 and 1961. She was an utterly devoted mother, wife and grandmother to Ben and Lissa's boys, Zachary and Dylan. In 1971 she and her family moved to Ogdensburg, where she continued her studies in Potsdam State and St. Lawrence University, ran a busy household, worked as a medical photographer and produced a voluminous body of prints and paintings. For the past few years she and her husband spent winters in Charleston, SC. Her lithographs, etchings and monoprints were shown at galleries and shows throughout the Unites States. Her work was marked by utter femininity, wit, spontaneity, humor and beauty. She never went a day without painting, printmaking or drawing. Her sketchbook and watercolors were always at hand. She studied the Italian language assiduously and traveled to that country and other lands often, making friends wherever she went. She was an avid gardener. Her health deteriorated in the recent past, but she never complained about it, but persevered in her daily output of watercolors and cheer. Her friends and family are devastated. There will be a memorial service in the future.