Howell artists' creativity finds no limits with age
BY LARRY HLAVENKA JR.
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY SCOTT PILLING staff Artist and craftsman John Guempel creates houses like this one out of cereal boxes and coffee stirrers.

HOWELL - One uses pencils to go places he has never been. The other just uses anything he can find. Two artists have found a home at the Pinewoods assisted living facility on Route 9.

Angelo Mercandante, 78, and John Guempel, 82, have taken their love for arts and crafts to the Meridian Quality Care facility for their golden years.

Mercandante, originally from South Orange, creates pencil sketches of houses and landscapes. He attributes his ability in shading, coloring and design from what he learned in a sheet metal shop many years ago. He never had any formal art training.

Recently retired and with time on his hands, he has enveloped himself with the craft.

"I got serious about 10 years ago," Mercandante said. "With a job that was pretty much 24 hours a day on call, I didn't have time to spend on [art]."

Now, he said, "it puts me in a different mood."

Sketch artist Angelo Mercandante of the Pinewoods assisted living facility in Howell shows one of his works to a visitor.

When Mercandante came to Pinewoods he looked out of his apartment window and said, "this is my world," so he decided to sketch it.

He later sketched other landscapes of lighthouses, homes and even the World Trade Center.

Amazingly enough, Mercandante has not visited many of the places he has drawn. To him, it does not matter.

"You get a pencil and paper, you can go any place in the world," he said. "This way I can go to different places."

When he draws lighthouses, he always gets the history of the location in order to complete the "trip."

According to Mercandante, a typical drawing takes four or five hours to complete, although his drawing of the World Trade Center took much longer. He said he takes great pride in that particular drawing, given its detail and historic circumstances.

Anna Cannova, a resident of the Pinewoods assisted living facility, Howell, admires the work of fellow resident Angelo Mercandante.

Despite his present success with art, Mercandante said he has experienced failure, too.

"About 25 years ago I thought maybe I could make a living out of [art]," he said. "I waited a whole day and I made $25. I said, 'This isn't for me.' "

Mercandante offered a final piece of advice to those who may have an interest in the craft.

"You don't have to be an artist," he said. "You have the talent, you just have to learn how to use it."

Meanwhile, Guempel has a different approach - he collect things and then turns them into something else.

Guempel uses it all.

"Grape boxes, cereal boxes, plastic foam, coffee stirrers, old calendars, soda cans, whatever I can find," he said. "I can look at something and figure out something to do with it."

His apartment, a treasure trove of houses, artifacts and crafts that he built and painted, displays his love - and talent - for crafts.

"I don't buy any kits," he said, although at one time he did and those kits helped him hone his skills. "I always made model airplanes. They were a dime each."

Guempel said he never took a class, he just started making things as a child growing up in northern New Jersey.

Over the years he has toured the flea market and craft circuit, selling his wares and making a profit.

"It passes time, but I made money from it," he said, noting that his big sellers were bracelets, earrings and other trinkets made from spoons.

His crafts display an Americana theme in style, design and color. In farmhouses, flags and ships, Guempel pays tribute to his country through his art - with more cause than ever. A grandson has had two tours of duty in Iraq.

He has tried to involve his two grandchildren in his art, but, he said, "it didn't pick up."

His serviceman grandson has a different interest.

"He found girls," Guempel laughed, "and that's what he likes."

For Guempel, though, the crafts are important, if a naturally occurring gift.

"They just kind of happen," he said. "I just relate to it somehow."

Amy Schneider, the activities director at Pinewoods, cherishes the time she spends with the artists and all of the residents.

"One thing about working with our residents, they are independent," she said. "They are very talented people and share with me some wonderful things. You see the World Trade Center and houses made out of cereal boxes ... you learn something every day. It's wonderful to share the stories with your own family."