A Lifetime of Helping to Shape Other Artists Is Honored

In 2004, the college held a 75-year retrospective of her work in the gallery that now bears her name. Silberman also was honored with an Outstanding Alumni Award that year for her lifelong commitment to learning. Additionally, the college published a biography of her artistic life by former adjunct professor John Beshoar and, in 2006, awarded Silberman an honorary associate's degree.

Beshoar first met Silberman in a ceramics class in 1995 and offered to photograph her works. "About 6 1/2 years later, she said yes," said Beshoar, who co-curated her solo exhibition and used his photographs to illustrate the biography, "The Genius of Sarah Silberman: A Lifetime Student of Sculpture."

Beshoar said he first became aware of the immensity of Silberman's talent a few years ago, when she came into class and began working a lump of clay.

"Within minutes, she had put up three small sculptures. You could see the physicality," he said. "This is when I knew she was a genius. I had never seen her do this until that day."

For Silberman, perseverance was key.

"The main thing is to keep doing it. No matter what you are, where you are, keep doing it," she said. "Stick with it."

During the dedication, the college's vice president of institutional advancement, David M. Sears, presented Silberman with a certificate granting her membership in the 1946 Society of Montgomery College, which supports the college.

"Her talent and timeless structures brought beauty to our community," Sears said before presenting the certificate to Silberman, who had suffered a mild heart attack three days before and was in a wheelchair.

Wearing a jaunty black beret, Silberman gazed at the crowd of well-wishers. Although she was unable to hear Sears's words, she wanted the crowd to know that the admiration was mutual. "We mustn't forget Montgomery College, the center of all our lives," she said.