Local artist Virginia “Ginny” Marchiondo, a 40-year resident of Mount Laurel, currently has her acrylic painting, “Together Always,” displayed at the 2025 Burlington County Senior Art Show, which is being hosted at The Smithville Mansion Annex Art Gallery (803 Smithville Road).
The 92-year-old is inspired by the work of Vincent Van Gogh and Pierre Auguste Renoir, artists she began appreciating at a young age.
“(I was) about 12 years old,” Marchiondo recalled. “I was interested in the artists themselves. Van Gogh, and Renoir were my favorites. I loved their work.”
Eager to learn, Marchiondo tried creating sketches of her own that quickly interfered with her school work.
“I started sketching while I was in school and got in trouble because I wasn’t doing my school work,” she acknowledged. “I was sketching pictures. My mother got many teacher’s notes sent home because of that.”
The artist noted she struggled early as she learned the techniques of painting.
“I put my heart into it,” she remembered. “It was hard at first, but I thought, ‘I love (painting).’ And if you love it, you should just keep on doing it. So that’s exactly what I did.”
The mother of four went on to have her artwork displayed at exhibits and other venues across the state, including a two-month solo show at the Mount Laurel library in 2011 that resulted in Marchiondo selling five of her more than 30 displayed paintings.
“It was like an audition,” she noted, referring to submitting her art for the exhibit. “You would tell them your brief story (on the art piece), then show them your paintings.”
At 39 illness struck Marchiondo when she was diagnosed with an essential tremor disorder, a neurological condition that causes the hands, head, trunk, voice or legs to shake.
“The doctors told me, ‘There is no medication (to control the tremors),'” Marchiondo explained. “What you have to do is find ways to live with it, and adapt to it – which works sometimes.”
Marchiondo noted that the concentration required to paint helped limit her tremors, but they didn’t fade. She found appreciation in her ability to paint despite them.
“It means so much to me to accomplish what I have (despite the tremors),” she said.
Marchiondo’s said nature and companionship were an influence behind her acrylic piece “Together Always,” which shows two cardinals on the branch of a cherry tree.
“I was inspired by all the beauty that I see and hear in my backyard and outdoor walks,” she said. “Painting and understanding nature puts me in another place and makes me feel good. And some animals mate for life, like cardinals, and remind me of my late husband, Vince.”
Machiondo’s acrylic work is currently on display at the senior art show that runs through Sept. 6 at The Smithville Mansion Annex Art Gallery.
Marchiondo is the only nonagenarian senior represented. The art was judged and the first place winners from each category will be exhibited at the 2025 New Jersey Senior Art Show this fall at Meadow Lakes in East Windsor from Sept. 29 through Nov. 6. “Together Always” will be displayed as Marchiondo won in the acrylic (non-professional) category at the county’s senior art show.
The recognition is important to Marchiondo as complications from her tremors no longer allow her to paint. She considers “Together Always” as her swan song.
“‘Together Always’ is one of my waning efforts before my tremors and focus decided to not work in sync much anymore,” Marchiondo explained.
“I’ve enjoyed painting since junior high school and now I’m old as dirt.
“It means the world to me to have this inspiration selected in the winter of my years. To know that people are acknowledging my art is the icing to it, and I hope it makes them happy too.”
Marchiondo also cited her son and “agent,” Michael, for always being her greatest advocate and supporter.
