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Artist Ned Hergelroth Found Secret to Happiness

By NANC1E WEIKEL

Edward (Ned) Hergelroth is a happy man. He’s happy because he is content with his life. Hergelroth, who is in his early 70s, is an artist who has directed his life onto a path which is basically free from the deadlines and the bustle which typefy today’s hectic lifestyles. Hergelroth no longer wears a watch. He does things when HE wants to do them. This is not to say he has forsaken all others. When someone is relying on his being somewhere on time, as a simple courtesy he checks the clock, or the watch worn by his wife Kathryne. “Relationships with people at certain times I respect,’’ said the native of Wyncote, Pa., “riot time, per se.” HERGELROTH’S LATEST time commitment was to set up his one-man art show at the Cape May County Art League in Cape May, The display of his watercolors and oils will be featured in the League’s carriage house headquarters until Aug. 25th. “We’ve always thought this was kind of like home,” said Hergelroth of Cape May, although he now lives in Cape Neddick, Maine. "We like to think of excuses to come down.” From 1968 to 1972, he was the artist in residence at the county Art League. “That big decision was made here in Cape May,” said Hergelroth of the point in his life when he decided to abandon academics and move into the Art League apartment. After he offered his resignation to Tyler School of Art where he had been teaching, not knowing what he was going to do next, he ran into a fellow teacher who told him of the opening at the Art League. 'T’ve never worn a watch since!” he said with delight. <

THE FINANCIAL SECURITY he sacrificed has been outweighed by a sense of freedom, as well as happiness. “I'm basically an optimist," said Hergelroth, explaining how things seem to take care of themselves, as exemplified by his chance meeting with the teacher who knew of the opening. Hergelroth also believes, "Be decent ' and have a decent attitude about things and things work.” While forging a life which provided financial security was still important, Hergelroth taught a spectrum of people, from elementary school kids to college students to professionals. DESCRIBING the difference between the days when he was a teacher and now, Hergelroth said that when he was at Tyler he was a teacher who painted. Now he’s an artist who also teaches. It’s that subtle change which is the essence of his happiness. For a long time, he was unable to say, “I’m an artist” because he “wasn’t living that way."

But teaching began to take its toll as he started to suffer from ulcers. He also found himself spending more time interviewing prospective students and filling out forms, and less time teaching. Also, as time went by, he began to think more and more like a painter. And he found himself daydreaming, he admitted somewhat sheepishly. 'T’ve had to do an awful lot of things in my life," he explained, adding that he had to struggle along the way. "I don’t have the security of a check every month," he said. But despite the tradeoff, he feels good about his newfound "inner confidence" that things will work out. ANOTHER ASPECT of flergelroth’s happiness is his inner contentment. He said he no longer concerns himself with “Will I be popular or successful?" "I paint because I like to paint,” he said, adding with a laugh, "It's a stupid way to make a living." Hergelroth subscribes to the f fPage 20 Please)

Special Section of the Herald and Lantern August 17, 1983