Heather Ainsley
ECB Publishing, Inc.
If you love art and animals, you're going to love the exhibit coming this September to the Jefferson Arts Gallery! This show features the feathery forms of birds that go “cluck!” As a beloved farm favorite, chickens are the subject of this upcoming art show, which features the unique work of three talented artists, each with their very own distinct style.
Natalia Andreeva's work depicts fresh, plein air paintings of our feathered friends, Ann Kozeliski's uses the beautiful skills of Sumi-e, or Japanese ink wash, to depict the regal nature of these farm fowl, and Pattie Maney provides colorful abstractions of barnyard birds to attract and charm her viewers. Together, these three very different and distinct styles are sure to delight gallery guests.
The show, “Something to Crow About,” will be opening on Saturday, Sept. 3 from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m. This exhibit will be open through Oct. 4. This event is open to the public, and free to attend. Anyone wishing to come and enjoy the artwork display may do so at the show opening or during the gallery's normal business hours. The Jefferson Arts Gallery is located at 575 W. Washington St. in Monticello, and is open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Be sure to bring high egg-spectations, because this show is sure to be im-peck-able!
Meet the Artists
Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Pattie Maney
Pattie Maney loves to paint animals, and some of her depictions of roosters are being featured in Jefferson Arts Gallery's September exhibit, “Something to Crow About.” Maney describes her acrylic paintings as happy and bright, “something that makes you smile.” Her art career began in the field of graphic design, and she spent some time creating sculpture while living in San Francisco in her thirties. About 20 years ago, she began to paint, with a focus on animals, especially dogs, which are the most important pet to her personally. Because Maney now can hold her own art shows, and has additional income as a landlord, she is able to dedicate a portion of the proceeds from art sales to support causes she cares about, such as animal shelters, Alzheimer's foundations and groups helping animals impacted by oil spills.
“I have always been in awe of animals and nature,” says Maney, who loves to go hiking, take walks with her dog Peanut and, more recently, tend to her garden. She became interested in painting roosters by chance during a visit to Key West, where she saw chickens running around all over the place. Pictures she took of them later inspired her to paint them, and now her chicken-themed artwork is very popular.
Maney paints not only on canvas but also on other “found” materials, such as old fence boards, metal from old tin roofs, tin ceiling tiles or pieces of disassembled furniture. Some pieces are small portraits while others fill spaces as large as six by five feet. Her paintings appear regularly in Tupelo's Bakery and Cafe in Monticello, the Gadsden Art Center in Quincy and the LeMoyne Christmas Show in Tallahassee, in addition to being featured in September's “Something to Crow About” exhibit at Jefferson Arts.
Natalia Andreeva
Natalia Andreeva has been interested in creating art her whole life, and she studied all mediums – from drawing to painting to sculpture to glass to ceramics – while earning a degree in Graphics and Art from Novosibirsk State Pedagogical Institute in Novosibirsk, Russia. She especially liked creating sculptures, but when she realized that this art form required very large studios and lots of heavy lifting, she turned to painting, which she could do with simpler materials that traveled easily with her wherever she went.
Andreeva takes her inspiration for her watercolor and oil paintings from real life.
“Whatever I see, that's what I want to try to reflect,” she says. “I need a real model or a landscape.”
From there, she takes an impressionistic approach rather than a precise rendering. She explains that she must make her artistic decisions quickly, because her subjects look different from moment to moment as the sun moves and the weather changes.
Andreeva enjoys membership in many artist organizations, where she finds not only like-minded people who can share in her artistic struggles but also inspiration from artists who approach their work differently and motivate her to keep learning. Andreeva's affiliations include Oil Painters of America, Signature Membership Status in the American Impressionist Society, Plein Air Painters of the Southeast and Tallahassee Plein Air Group.
Andreeva connects with artists and customers on Instagram, her own YouTube channel and her website, www.andreeva.com. Of course, you can see her work in person at September's “Something to Crow About” exhibit at Jefferson Arts.
Ann Kozeliski
“Art is all I ever wanted to do since I was a child,” says sumi-e painter Ann Kozeliski.
She worked as a professional graphic designer for many years and had a side business making stained glass, but one Saturday about 25 years ago she began to learn sumi-e (Japanese ink painting or Chinese bamboo brush painting) at the Tallahassee Senior Center. This art form has been her passion ever since. Kozeliski looks forward to the challenge that every painting experience presents to her as she tries to capture what's in her mind's eye with a minimal number of strokes. She especially likes painting images of people, but her body of work also includes many depictions of chickens, the subject matter of hers being featured at September's “Something to Crow About” exhibit at Jefferson Arts.
Kozeliski explains that during a visit to the Wild Goose Pagoda in China, she heard a bit of rustling among the obelisk tombstones there. The sound turned out to be some short-legged, black chickens. Long afterwards the images of those chickens haunted her, and eventually she began painting them.
Kozeliski is thankful that she does not have to support herself by selling her art and can keep her artistic focus on creating just what she considers to be good art rather than having to consider what might best sell. Currently, she works part-time as the executive director of Havana Main Street and also is active with the Artists Helping Artists Gallery, a group she helped found in Havana when Hurricane Michael destroyed a gallery on St. George Island.
Her sumi-e paintings are on permanent display at River's Edge Gallery in Apalachicola. She also currently has installations at the Gainesville Fine Arts Association, ArtFields (in Lake City, S.C.) the LaGrange Southeast Regional exhibition in Georgia and the TCC Fine Arts Gallery in Tallahassee.
You must be logged in to post a comment.