Jill Rance & Steve Schoenbaum Art Exhibit

Next date: Wednesday, May 27, 2026 | 08:00 AM to 05:00 PM

Jill Rance Biography

Jill grew up in Queens New York. She’s confident she got some of her passion for art from her father. Her dad started out designing wedding gowns, painting landscapes in oils and then decided to start his own printing company where he designed the menus for the restaurants in Manhattan.

Jill always loved coloring and doodling as a child. When she was finishing up her last year of high school at the age of 15, she approached her dad about going to art school. He was against it, he didn’t think it necessary for his daughter to go onto higher education. Jill told him that she’d sell her art on the streets of NY if she had to, but that conversation was quickly shut down. At that point she felt no need to draw or paint anymore. She didn’t pick up a paint brush again until she turned 61 years old.

Through a specialized therapy program she was in, she was encouraged to paint, to reconnect with the child she used to be.

In the beginning all her paintings were faceless and carried all the feelings she needed to revisit at this stage in her life. Each painting had a specific emotion that she needed to memorialize on canvas. Painting can be healing and it allowed Jill to now have the canvas carry her past. She continues to paint from emotion but has found a new desire to paint happy….flowers, watercolors, and collage.

Jill has a long career in the investment industry where most of that world is surrounded by numbers and TV’s on endless loops of news, but she has been very fortunate. She has been surrounded by beautiful artwork for years, her office space has a private collection of art from contemporary abstract painters, sculptors, and photographers. Connecting to the art hanging in her office has allowed her to live in a world that brings her such happiness, both at home and at work.

Jill has recently moved to Port St. Lucie. Her husband and her sons have been her greatest cheerleaders and her family and friends have all joined her on this new journey.

Steve Schoenbaum Biography

Steve grew up around photography. His father dragged an old Speed Graphic press camera through the South Pacific in WWII and edited his own 8 mm films at home. It wasn’t until college, however, where he was an interdisciplinary major in visual arts and political science that Steve started to take photography seriously.

Steve’s first job out of college was with a ground-breaking production company in Washington, DC. This company pioneered the animation of stills for film – way before Ken Burns – and allowed Steve to combine his love of photography with filmmaking techniques. The result was lifelong fascination with a thematic and storytelling approach to photography.

Among Steve’s many assignments, was a trip to virtually all US National Forests where he had the luxury of waiting – sometimes for days – until the light was just right for each shot. The play of light on subjects continues to be a driving force in Steve’s work. Steve also spent several months in East Africa in conjunction with National Geographic photographing the Masai and diverse wildlife.

As Steve’s personal photographic work expanded, he began showing in Washington galleries. His devotion to fine art photography soon led him to accept a position as head of the photography department in the School of Communication at American University. While at AU, Steve had both the time and access to facilities that allowed him to explore various themes. As a result, Steve continued to show in galleries and the Corcoran Museum of Art, organize workshops with world-renown artists, and lecture on the aesthetics of photography.

After leaving American University, Steve relocated to NYC where he founded Sage Media Group, a video consulting and production company. Steve continues to serve as the company’s primary producer and director working with clients such as Merck, J&J, and Bank of America.