How Jenness Cortez and Leonard Perlmutter are blending artistic expression and meditation through the new Jenness Cortez Teaching Museum.
In 1971 a young couple from New York began a shared journey in the art world. That journey would prove both creative and spiritual—and to Jenness Cortez and Leonard Perlmutter, those two pursuits have always been deeply connected. Jenness painted full-time, while Leonard worked alongside her as an art dealer, advocate, and researcher. Together, they explored the relationship between creativity, self-understanding, and human fulfillment.
“Everyone is an artist,” Perlmutter says. It’s a simple idea, though not always an easy one for people to accept. He believes creativity extends far beyond traditional artistic disciplines. “Thoughts and desires influence our emotions,” he explains, “and emotional energy can be transformed into meaningful expression.” For some, that expression takes shape on canvas; for others, it may impact their approach to other pursuits—from teaching to corporate leadership.
Cortez shares a similar view. “All of life is art,” she says. “Every person possesses the capacity to discover and express their own path to fulfillment.” Creativity, in her view, is not reserved for a gifted few, but something innate and deeply human. Guided by these principles, Cortez and Perlmutter are now taking the next step in a journey that has spanned more than five decades. Thirty years after founding the American Meditation Institute in Averill Park, New York, the couple has established the Jenness Cortez Teaching Museum as the permanent home for Cortez’s body of work and as a center for educational programs exploring the connections between creativity, meditation, and conscious living.
Cortez has pursued the visual arts since childhood, calling it “the motivating energy” of her life. Over the years, the couple assembled an extensive archive of her paintings and began envisioning a way those works could serve a broader educational purpose. Last year, the board of directors of the American Meditation Institute unanimously approved the creation of the museum and its accompanying educational initiatives. The Jenness Cortez Teaching Museum will launch its first course this autumn, The Science of Creativity, a six-week online program developed by Cortez and Perlmutter. Open to both practicing artists and new-
comers alike, the course will explore artistic expression, attention, self-observation, and the role creativity can play in living a more intentional and meaningful life.
At a time when many people feel distracted, overextended, and disconnected from themselves, Cortez and Perlmutter believe creative practice can offer a different path—one rooted not in competition or achievement, but in awareness and personal discovery. Perlmutter notes that modern life often teaches people how to perform, accumulate, and succeed externally, while neglecting the inner skills required for reflection and fulfillment. Artistic practice, he suggests, can become a parallel path: a way to better understand experience, direct attention, and reconnect with what genuinely matters.
For Cortez, the goal is not simply the creation of art objects, but the awakening of the creative potential already present within each person. In choosing to create rather than merely conform, we may discover that the truest masterpiece is not what we produce, but the life we consciously shape along the way.
The Jenness Cortez Teaching Museum will offer The Science of Creativity via Zoom from September 23 through October 28, 2026. Information and registration are available at cortezteachingmuseum.org.
