Deborah Kowalczyk would have been happy with just her vacation memories, but a trip to Orlando, Florida, also produced a Best of Show win for the Riceville, Tennessee, artist.
"Nature Puts on a Show" was one of two pieces Kowalczyk entered in the June open show sponsored by the Community Artists League of Athens at the E.G. Fisher Library.
Photo from Sally Fleming
Deborah Kowalczyk of Riceville, Tenn., earned Best of Show honors for "Nature Puts on a Show" in the Community Artists Guild of Athens' June open show. The judge told her "it just kept bringing him back" to look at it, she says. (Photo from Sally Fleming)
JoAnn Scannapiego won a first-place ribbon for "Laura's Painting." (Photo from Sally Fleming)If you go
› What: Community Artist League of Athens’ June open show.› When: Through Saturday, June 30.› Where: E.G. Fisher Library, 1289 Ingleside Drive, Athens, Tenn.› Phone: 423-745-7782.› Online: www.fisherlibrary.org, www.dlkdesigns.net.
WINNERS
› Best of Show: Deborah Kowalczyk, “Nature Puts on a Show”› First place: JoAnn Scannapiego, “Laura’s Painting”› Second place: Sally Fleming, “Neighborhood”› Third place: Larry Chapman, “From the Depths”› Fourth place: Kelly Andrews, “Miss Lion”High honorable mentions:› Sheila Chesanow, “Orange Umbrella”› Chuck Schwaner, “Still Flying”Honorable mentions:› Allan Sibley, “Me”› Lyda Mannone, “Cosby Trail”› Katie Kenney, “Etruscan Sunset”› Diana Ferguson, “The Concert”› Kelly Andrews, “Light Through the Flowers”› Laura Abbott, “Five With Chive”› Vickie Blair, “Joyful Noise”People’s Choice (tie):› Sheila Chesanow, “Orange Umbrella”› Allan Sibley, “Me”
The 24- by 24-inch painting depicts the lush tropical foliage at the Disney Springs entertainment complex in vibrant teals, tans and greens.
"All their stuff is gorgeous down there," she says. "I couldn't help but take some pictures."
Kowalczyk says this is her first Best of Show win, but she has earned ribbons for first- and second-place finishes and honorable mentions in previous competitions. She has had three paintings selected for viewing for Arts in the Airport, a semiannual competition at the McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, and also has shown her works at Knoxville's Emporium Center for Arts & Culture and Broadway Studios & Gallery.
She entered the Community Artists League show "because it's close to home." She and her husband, Stan, have lived in McMinn County since 2007. They will celebrate their 42nd wedding anniversary next week with a visit from their five grandsons.
Spokeswoman Sally Fleming says the Athens exhibition, on view through Saturday, is one of the league's most diverse. Artists 18 and older were permitted to enter up to two original works completed within the last two years in a wide range of media: painting, drawing, mixed media, printmaking, photography and sculpture.
Twenty-six artists entered works. In addition to Best of Show, first- through fourth-place winners were selected, along with two high honorable mentions and seven honorable mentions. Two artists, Sheila Chesanow and Allan Sibley, tied for the People's Choice Award.
Originally from the Pittsburgh area, Kowalczyk says she has wanted to be an artist since she was in sixth grade. Teachers nurtured her talent as she went through junior high and high school, but she put her dreams on hold for a while after graduation.
"After I graduated from high school, I got married right away, at 19, and started having my children [two daughters] the next year," she says. "I waited until the last started kindergarten, and then I started art school."
After graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, she worked as a graphic artist, primarily doing marketing materials for a home builder, everything from booklets to billboards. Her career also has provided opportunities to paint on race cars and complete large-scale murals for clients. Her fine-art ventures include landscapes, Civil War reenactment scenes, florals and portraits, her favorite pursuit.
"I've done just about anything you could think of as an artist," she says.
"Nature Puts on a Show" is actually one of four in a series of foliage from her vacation photos - "each one a different leaf." She is currently at work on the fourth to include at a show in Knoxville in August.
"I'm hoping to have it done," she says. "I'm very detailed in my painting. It takes me a good while."
Kowalczyk says she entered two paintings from the series in the Athens show, one not necessarily better than the other in her view, but the judge was impressed by the depth and color in "Nature Puts on a Show."
"He said it just kept bringing him back," she says. "He had to keep coming back and looking at it. The realism of it kept him looking at it."
Kowalczyk says the rich colors featured in "Nature Puts on a Show" are typical of her paintings and representative of what she's trying to achieve in her work.
"The wonder of God's creation is what I think it is," she says of her efforts. "It's trying to show what an artist God is."
Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.