“I sat there for five hours. I didn’t think about the arthritis pain. All the physical things that annoy you, the other problems in life totally disappear when you get so involved in learning something and the challenge of doing it.”

This is what Ruth Abrams says about the effects on her of acquiring new knowledge and skills. A 77-year-old Brookline resident, this vibrant woman has  established a fine reputation as a video producer. Her weekly program “ElderVision” has run on Brookline Access Television since 1989 and her documentary “Fabric of Life” has been shown to audiences in many places.

The words quoted above refer to Ruth Abrams’ learning how to use new video equipment, but they apply more widely. Her most recent accomplishment is a new show entitled “Collage and Assemblage” that was on view last month in Watertown. To have seen the exhibit with the artist as guide, as I did, was both an esthetic experience and one that revealed something of what aging can be.

The artist has divided the exhibit into three sections: 1) “biographic;” 2) material flowing from guests who appeared in the documentary “Fabric of Life;” and 3) assorted pieces prompted by her own experience.

The first part, featuring memories of her family members, was the section that had made the most impact on me.

An assemblage devoted to her brother displays programs from the theatrical productions in which he was involved. A photograph shows him as a handsome young man; using the stage name Marnel Sumner, he would act in or help produce many shows of which the most popular was “Man of La Mancha.”

Ruth’s husband, Hyman Finkelstein, fought in World War II and won the Purple Heart. Speaking of this beloved spouse who died in 1996, Ruth says that three words typify him in his lifetime: “gentle and kind and caring.”

“The Gypsy” is the title Ruth Abrams gives to the assemblage centering on her mother. A photo shows her in Europe as a young woman. Later she emigrated to the United States from Lithuania where she had learned fortune telling from the gypsies. Her new country is indicated by a rainbow and a landscape.

The exhibit that features Ruth’s father bears the title “Golden Hands,” a traditional German/Jewish phrase denoting manual skill. This assemblage displays a model of hands that Ruth painted gold along with some of the actual tools that her father used.

This section witnesses to a family legacy rich in memories. One visitor wrote in the guest book of the effect it had on her: “Now I am inspired truly to get busy and create my loving legacy.”

The displays in the second section are too numerous to comment on one by one. The one entitled “Friendship Over a Cup of Tea” impressed me. To quote another guest’s written tribute to the artist, “It seems you look into peoples’ souls and create a picture from within. Beautiful, original, and warm, especially the teapot one – this reminds me of my mother.”

I also liked the one entitled “Marriage – We Have Mellowed’ that shows off Sophie and Ted Simons, aunt and uncle to Ruth Abrams. The lace in the assemblage evokes a marriage that lasted more than sixty years. The spouses attributed much value to their mellowing “that has helped us be not so demanding of one another.”

The third section quietly displays the artist’s imagination at work. She takes three pieces of driftwood, a dry portion of a sponge, a nut for the head, and makes of them Don Quixote. As a lesson in battling stress she shows us butterflies and suggests we learn from them.

In “Gardening” she quotes the Roxbury elder Ed Cooper who looked back over some ninety years and said “One of the greatest things I have learned is how to deal with the good earth.” We see there an old glove that proved Ruth’s most expensive piece. She washed it in the sink only to have the sand clog her drain requiring a plumber to come and unstop it at a cost of 45 dollars.

Written tributes witness to the effect that the artist’s work had on visitors. “Eye-catching, thought provoking, and very cool,” wrote one apparently younger guest. “It has a wonderful simplicity and charm,” wrote another. And, to top it off, a woman enthused: “What a treasure trove you are! So full of creativity, bravado, intelligence and talent! Never stop.”

Ruth herself does not allow her head to be turned by such tributes. In fact, only recently did she dare assume the title of artist. “Until two months ago,” she explains, “I could not let the words come out of my mouth saying ‘I am an artist.’ I’m just beginning to be able to say it.”

But she keeps on learning.  Of her recent show she says: “It gives me this feeling of really accomplishing, .  .   . of all the things I have tried in my life the most fulfilling.”

Richard Griffin