Brenda Zlamany at the Derfner Judaica Museum, Bronx

Artist talk and Reception, 1:30-3 PM. RSVP: (718) 581-1596 or art@hebrewhome.org; photo ID required for entry

Hot on the heels of her recent, year-long project in which she painted a watercolor portrait of an acquaintance every day, most of whom happen to be luminaries of the New York art scene, and in the spirit of an earlier project, 888: Creating a Portrait of Taiwanese Aboriginals, Brenda Zlamany has extended her penchant for the rigors of numerically-conceived grand projects to the residents of the fabled Hebrew Home in the Bronx. Heels, however, might not be the operative word as many of the seniors are wheelchair users at this stage of their lives; indeed, the tile also reflects the high number of sitters who have reached, or are (“G-d willing”) about to reach, three digits. Whatever the anthropological specifics of a Zlamany portrait project, the marvel is the way every picture tells a story, reflecting what the attentive painter hears and sees in the hour with her sitter. “The subject guides me. Sometimes we sit in silence; other times great secrets are divulged. I may coax them, but they decide.” At the lunchtime opening today, which features a talk by the artist, most visitors can expect to come away feeling very young.