An old master

S.I. artist, still painting at 103, earns CUNY honor

AT THE AGE of 103, Margaret Ricciardi still prefers to paint on her feet.

As her classmates at CUNY’s College of Staten Island splash color on canvases while seated, Ricciardi eyes her art from all angles.

“Some of the kids sit and paint, but I can’t do it, I have to stand,” said the sprightly and engaging artist. “I move back and forth to see.”

The daughter of Italian immigrants, Ricciardi will be standing tall again next week when she receives an honorary doctorate from the College of Staten Island for her devotion to art — a pursuit she embraced after nearly three decades running a shoe store at the ferry terminal on Staten Island.

“Margaret has very firm ideas about what she wants to do . . . she has a really strong life force,” said Tracey Jones, a professor of painting who has known Ricciardi for 35 years.

After her husband, Frank, passed away in 1983, Ricciardi quit the shoe store and fully committed herself to art classes at the College of Staten Island. She continues to attend each semester, taking Access-A-Ride to campus twice a week.

“I went full-time just to give me something to function with in life . . . . It helped being at the college, and the professors were all so good. I loved it,” Ricciardi said.

Ricciardi earned a bachelor of arts in studio art in 1986. She will receive her framed doctorate on May 30 alongside other grads. “There’s many, many reasons we’re honoring Margaret, but one is her inspiration to her fellow students,” William Fritz, president of the college, said. Ricciardi only paints in oil. “With oil, if I don’t like it, I’ll paint over it,” she said.

That willingness to adjust is one of her gifts, Jones said.

“She’s not afraid to let something go, and she’s not afraid to make a mistake,” he said.

Ricciardi also creates sculptures in wood, plaster, soapstone, marble and Italian alabaster.

Her work has been shown at the National Arts Club and in galleries on Staten Island and on Long Island. In 2006, Ricciardi founded the Margaret and Frank Ricciardi Scholarship for students majoring in Italian to study abroad in Florence, where she has family. She has awarded scholarships to nine lucky students.

Ricciardi also isn’t afraid to teach her classmates a few lessons.

At a gala at the Staten Island Museum last year, Ricciardi scolded her fellow students for sitting at a table instead of hitting the dance floor.

“I said, ‘I never sat out a dance when I was your age! How can you sit there?’ ” she joked.

Margaret Ricciardi, active as ever at 103, with one of her sculptures and above with College of Staten Island President William Fritz. Below, with her husband, Frank, who died in 1983. Bottom inset, programs from an exhibit of her work.