At 99, Jack Banham is still making art

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Jack Banham is 99, and about 15 years ago he began creating what has grown into a collection of hundreds of pieces of art made out of tiny strips of premium paper, and he is still doing it.

Jack was a radio operator in World War II, and a musician in the Korean War. After the wars he met the love of his life, Terry, at a Sadie Hawkins dance in Manhattan. His four grown children all own many pieces of his paper art. Last weekend, it was on display at the Oceanside Library.

Jack introduced his children to art when they were very young.

“He would make art out of a peach pit,” said Johnny Banham, his youngest son and Rockville Centre resident. “He would take a peach pit and carve it into a Native American. When walking on the street he would find things and pick them up and put them to good use. He always had that ability to find that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

“My dad, Jack, has been instilling music and art in us since we were children,” said Eva Banham, his second oldest. “We all played some kind of instrument…He’s just an amazing person, so creative, so talented, strong and it keeps him occupied.”

Jack, who splits time between Rockville Centre and Melville with his daughter, only uses 2.75 reading glasses to make his art, no magnifying glasses. He sometimes layers the paper to create shading. It’s all done with Elmer’s glue and no top coat. He doesn’t use any models, photos or drawings for inspiration. He doesn’t sketch it first either, it all comes from his mind.

“He sits there when he’s getting ready for his nap and just dreams,” Eva said. “He’s sometimes in a fog, he’s in a dream, and he’s trying to place all the colors and he just comes up with these ideas. Some when he’s walking around, some he just dreams about.”

It takes Jack about a month and a half to do each piece. Most of them are average sized wall art, some smaller, some larger. He does mostly landscapes, but also some portraits.

“He’ll do an hour, then he’ll take a nap, then he’ll get some lunch, then he’ll work on it again for an hour, then take another nap and get a snack,” Johnny said. “I would say he works on it about four or five hours a day.”

After trying stained glass, oils and acrylic, Jack says he got into paper art because it was less expensive and easier than other mediums.

“It’s cheap to make, you know it’s paper,” Jack said. “Expensive frames but I manage to make most of them myself.”

Jack started playing music when he was 13. His stage name was Reed Conley.

“(I) formed a little band and had a lot of fun after that,” he said. “I would’ve continued music as my second love if it were not for World War Two.”

The rest of Jack’s bandmates all went into the Navy when the war started.

“The only reason I went into the army was I couldn’t swim, so I couldn’t follow my boys.”

After being called back to service in the Korean War, Jack would have liked to stay a musician, but there was no work to be had in that business. He wanted a family with Terry, so he had to get a steadier job. He worked for Pfizer for decades before retiring to follow his other love - art.

Eventually, he started exhibiting his art across Long Island. His family chooses the pieces that will be exhibited.

“His daughter called us and said he has been exhibiting his art all over Long Island,” said Deborah Keehner, head of adult programming at the Oceanside Library. “And because they’re Oceansiders and we just opened up the new building, she wanted him to be exhibited here and I jumped on it right away. Especially when I saw his beautiful work.”

Keehner understands how meaningful and demanding the artistic process is.

“In his later years, John embraced the intricate art of paper cutting, transforming tiny fragments into masterpieces of magic,” Keehner said. “His art reminds us of the beauty that emerges when patience, precision and imagination come together…Art has an extraordinary power. It connects us, inspires us, and allows us to see the world rough new perspectives.”