Antonine Koval is the Artist of the Month for November; photo by Sherri Van Schaick
Marsha Lyons
The November Artist of the Month, Antonine Koval, originally from the Chicago area, is like many artists who live in PebbleCreek who let their art and creative energy sit on the back burner while they raised families and worked. This talented woman was drawn to art as a child, with art being her favorite subject in school. She did drawing and painting in high school, including some set work for various school plays. This carried through to college where that desire continued and she took a couple of design and drawing classes as well as several art history classes.
Antonine managed to do some quilting right before her first child was born. All her friends’ babies got a quilt, but when the last one was finished two weeks before her own baby came, her daughter didn’t even get her own quilt! After that art was pretty much a memory for many years.
The Creative Arts Center has provided a wonderful opportunity for Antonine to rekindle her art interest and learn many new things. She has been taking painting classes with Bonnie Kitchens at the Creative Arts Center and works mostly in acrylic with some mixed media. She also has discovered Zentangle courtesy of our own Desiree Mansell. She has just finished taking Beginning Calligraphy with Ms. Mansell and described it as “Wonderful!” Since being at PebbleCreek she has also taken a fused glass class and hopes to take more classes at the Creative Arts Center in the future.
Most of her paintings are inspired by her immediate surroundings or by photographs she has taken over the years. She has heard it said that writers should “write what you know” and feels that should apply to artists as well. As you look at Antonine’s work you can’t help but agree. Vacation photographs, family photos and objects she lives with every day have become the subjects of her paintings.
Party Line, the picture shown with this article, depicts a telephone that was in her family home growing up. The telephone also has significance to her as she worked for the phone company for 21 years. The depiction of a photo of two little girls is of her husband’s mother and aunt as children and the written text on the book is a copy on parchment of the last letter written by Antonine’s mother to her mother. This personalization draws you into her paintings and makes the paintings very inviting as well as a little bit intriguing as you contemplate the history of the different objects.
She usually paints only in class which is three hours at a stretch and four sessions per class. Most paintings she finishes in just about that one month period, but some have taken a bit longer. Her Zentangle work varies from maybe an hour for a simple tile to much longer for what is known as Zentangle Inspired Art (ZIA).
Please stop by the Creative Arts Center this month and enjoy the display of Antonine’s work. You will also find one painting in each of the club houses. Join me in congratulating this growing, talented artist.