Brushstrokes of resilience

Yorktown resident Michele Iovanella beams with pride when she speaks of her mother, Marion Fodera—a gifted watercolor artist who lives in Cocoa Beach, Florida, but spends part of the year with Michele in Yorktown.

Born in 1934, Fodera’s journey with art began in grade school with simple doodles. Over time, her talents evolved from sketching fashion to still life oil painting before finding her true passion in watercolor.

Married young, Marion raised six children while caring for her husband. Her creative outlet came at night, when she would stay up for hours painting clowns, landscapes, fruit, and portraits. “It was my happy place,” she says. With help from her own mother, she found time to paint through the chaos of family life.

After she and her husband, Salvatore, became empty nesters, they moved to Florida from New York. Tragically, he passed away just two years later, when Marion was 69. She poured herself into her artwork to cope with the loss.

At 79, disaster struck again—a routine shoulder surgery resulted in a severed median nerve, leaving her left side paralyzed. Relying solely on her right hand led to carpal tunnel. Then, at 90, she suffered a serious fall, breaking multiple bones.

Still, nothing keeps her from painting. Now 91, Marion paints daily, often with her beachside art group.

Marion’s work was recently on display at the John C. Hart Memorial Library in Yorktown and is currently being exhibited at the Mahopac Public Library. Her paintings are available for purchase. For details, contact Michele Iovanella at michele50@me.com or call 914-621-8973.