Lawrence Lowell “Toni” Putnam, 89, a longtime Garrison resident, died May 10 at her home of complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
She was born in Boston on July 15, 1935, the daughter of Augustus Putnam and Anne Lackey and grew up on the Estonia farm in Washington Depot, Connecticut. After graduating from The Cambridge School, she attended Mills College in Oakland, California, before transferring to the University of Rochester when her mother became ill with cancer. It was there she met Richard Leger; they married after she graduated in 1957.
Toni was always passionate about art and formalized that interest with degrees from the Ecole des Beaux Arts at Fountainebleau, France, and the Atlanta School of Art.
She co-founded the Tallix Art Foundry in 1971 in Peekskill (which later relocated to Beacon) with her second husband, Dick Polich, and developed unique patinas that complemented the new, higher-silica bronze the foundry used. She left the foundry in the mid-1980s to make art full-time.
After she and Dick divorced, Toni reconnected with Ira Carmen, whom she knew in high school. They were married in 2000 and lived in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, where Ira was a professor of political science. When he retired in 2013, they moved to Cortlandt, New York.
As an artist, Toni had an abundant imagination and great skill at execution. She was constantly at work on pieces. Her range was vast, including printmaking, etching, pen and ink, watercolor and lost wax bronze. She also took art forms to a new level with mirror-box sculptures, papier-mâché masks and encaustic painting.
She loved to incorporate mythic symbols. “My work is based on the conviction that there is a dimension of the universe that is not attainable or explainable by rational processes,” she said. “I believe that historic symbols carry with them an energy and force that affects the viewer regardless of whether the symbol is of his time or not. Thus, my work combines this latent power of symbols, whether they arise in alchemy, mythology or religions, and tries to evoke that power and energy in our contemporary lives.”
Toni was deeply involved in the Philipstown community, showcasing her work at the Garrison Art Center, creating masks for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival at Boscobel, and donating her art to fundraisers. She was a member of the National Sculpture Society and the Century Club of New York City, and her work was exhibited in galleries across the country.
She also was a gardener and cook, canning and freezing much of the garden’s summer abundance. She also made toys and clothing for her children and grandchildren, and hosted joyous and, at times, vast dinner parties. Given the pace of creation during the first 80 years of her life, it is hard to imagine the quiet that surrounded her during her last 10 years, her family said.
Toni is survived by her children, Phil Leger, Will Leger and Cate Leger; and her grandchildren, Rozele, Calli, Phoebe, Natalie and Aimee Leger and Chloe Wanaselja. A private memorial will be held Aug. 24 in Cortlandt.
