There is profound beauty in the simple and ordinary, a feeling of timelessness. For over fifteen years I’ve been immersed in a theme involving natural and ordinary objects: beach stones, bamboo, seedpods, shells, bones…a glass sphere. This evolving body of work is my Meditations series, through which I’ve explored abstract ideas like peace, harmony, patience – and discovered a very personal iconography. The clear sphere represents an observer, of interior or exterior worlds.
I was raised in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with my four sisters. A fascinating family tradition was at Easter, when our artist father would hand-paint Byzantine icons on hollow eggs for our grandparents. Some lasting impressions: a shimmering leaf of gold as he prepared to detail the halos of the icons; his gentle brand of irreverence in using the face of my grandmother as The Virgin; Eastern Orthodox mosaics and icons, expressionistic and other-worldly. In growing up with that tradition and regular outings to the area’s great museums, I became interested in the infinite ways the human figure was interpreted – that it could be figurative but not naturalistic was a thrilling revelation to me.
My years in the sign trade, and later as a cabinetmaker’s assistant provided a thriving creative environment where I developed carving, lettering, gilding, frame-making, decorative painting, and woodworking skills. I naturally incorporated many of these into my artistic expression, which moves between the mediums of paint, silverpoint, and wood.
Silverpoint is a drawing made with a wire of silver that is inserted in a holder. I began using this technique in 1985, copying portraits from Da Vinci, Van Eyck, Vermeer and other Renaissance masters, while also drawing from my large collection of animal skulls, shells, and seedpods. The drawing surface is prepared with a formula that slightly abrades the metal as it is drawn across, resulting in fine silver lines. Over time, these lines will tarnish (oxidize) to their characteristic sepia tone. I typically prepare my silverpoint grounds in pale colors of gray-blue and green, ochre, coral pink, lavender, adding highlights of white ink or pastel to the finished drawing.
Wood Mosaics offer endless creative potential through choices of wood, texture, shape, color, metal leaf and other materials. I began creating these in the 1990s, and the possibilities are simply endless! A completed mosaic consists of hundreds of intricate sinuous, inter-locking, ever-evolving shapes that are inspired by nature’s exquisite designs. I’m more excited by an expressive interpretation of what catches my attention, than a slavish duplication.
My studio / workshop is in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where I’ve lived for over 20 years. My work is in many private collections throughout the USA and abroad.
Please visit my website for a broader view of my work.
Norine Kevolic