OBITUARY Elizabeth Drachman September 17, 1931 – September 27, 2018 POTTER and ORIGAMI ARTIST Elizabeth Drachman was born in Longmeadow Massachusetts and was educated in the local schools in this small New England town. In 1953 she received a BA degree from Connecticut College for Women, graduating cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa membership. She moved to Boston and spent the next 4 years as an underwriter in the Home Office of JOM Hancock life Insurance Company.
In 1957 she enrolled in Harvard Graduate School of Education. In 1959 she received a Masters degree and spent the next 5 years teaching the Boston area. Mrs. Drachman moved to the Washington area after her marriage in 1964 to Richard Drachman, a theoretical physicist at Goddard Space Flight Center.
She was active in school, community, educational, and religious organizations during the years her two sons attended schools in Bethesda. In 1975 Mrs. Drachman took her first pottery lessons at Glen Echo and began what she describes as her it grand adventure in the world of art,” For the next 30 years she was active in local pottery and art guilds. Her pottery was displayed at Scope Gallery in the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA and at Strathmore Hall Arts Center in North Bethesda.
She participated regularly in local, regional, and national juried shows. In 2002 one of her art pieces was in a juried show that toured the United States for 2 years. In 1996 she became interested part-time in origami as an art form.
After leaving pottery she broadened this interest in paper art by giving mini workshops and exhibiting locally. At the Strathmore Mansion in 2008 she was invited to display a comprehensive and educational diorama of over 100 origami forms. At the Kensington Park Library in june, 2014 she installed a moving sculpture of more than 300 cranes.
From the time she was a little girl Mrs. Drachman has enjoyed writing. She has applied this interest to all her activities, serving as newsletter editor for school and club publications, publishing poetry, and writing articles for art magazines. Except for the first 2 years of her marriage, Mrs. Drachman has lived on the same street in Bethesda.
When her two boys were school age, she helped organize neighborhood parties and other community events. But whatever the decade of life on the street, she and her husband have enjoyed the ebb and flow of friendships. In the early years she taught a few of the children in informal art classes.
Over the years Mrs. Draclunan has sought to honor her mother’s memory by supporting local art and educational organizations. Three events she has taken special pleasure in and which she has always insisted were her mother’s gifts are the tree house in her backyard; the acceptance of a Michael Mode sculpture into the Renwick Gallery’s petmanent collection; and the installation of Pat Monk’s sculpture on the campus of the American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland. She has been married to her beloved husband Richard for over 50 years (2014).
They have two married sons, Jordan and Steven; two daughters-in-law, Efrat and Lan; and two grandchildreni Liana and Julianne. Elizabeth and her husband Richard have enjoyed membership in Beth El for over 45 years. Their sons Jordan and Steven attended Hebrew school and had their Bar Mitzvahs during Rabbi Scolnic’s time as Rabbi.
Elizabeth served several years on the catering committee and Richard served on the Adult Education Committee. They continue to enjoy the friendships they made during those years and have added new friends through their participation in several Beth El havurot and other Beth El sponsored activities. Elizabeth Drachman of Bethesda, MD, on Thursday, September 27, 2018.
Beloved wife of Richard Drachman for over 50 years. Devoted mother of Steven and Jordan; mother-in-law to Lan and Efrat; cherished grandmother of Liana and Julianne; and Studio potter, paper artist and teacher. Betty was born in Longmeadow, MA and graduated Phi Betta Kappa from Connecticut College for Women.
She also received a Master’s degree from Harvard School of Education. Betty supported local art and educational organizations, she participated regularly in juried shows, and her pottery was displayed both locally and nationally. Later in life, she became skilled in paper art and origami as an art form, and she had a comprehensive diorama of over 100 origami forms displayed at the Strathmore Mansion as well as an installation of a moving sculpture of more than 300 cranes at the Kensington Park Library.
Graveside services will be held on Sunday, September 30, 2018 at 10:30 am at Judean Memorial Garden in Olney, MD. Family will be observing Shiva on Wednesday afternoon. Memorial contributions may be made to Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture.
Arrangements by Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home LLC. Under Jewish Funeral Practices Committee of Greater Washington.
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