I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1952 and raised in Bucks County with my four sisters. One of my earliest memories was watching my artist father hold up a shimmering leaf of gold as he prepared to detail the halos of the Byzantine icons he had painted. Every year, during Easter, his hand-painted eggs were gifts for my grandparents. The gilded, colorful, mystical, and highly stylized art of the Byzantine era made a lasting impression on me. Growing up with that tradition, and with frequent visits to the area’s great museums, I became fascinated by the infinite ways the human figure was expressed in paint, woodcarvings, and mosaics - and became deeply aware of an inner desire to create. I think it was then that I took my first breath of life as an artist.
Over the past decade, I've been immersed in a theme involving the profound beauty in 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.
Many 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 used a wide range of painting techniques on furniture and architectural models, and on the many frames that I designed and built. I enjoyed using these techniques and materials so much at work that I've naturally incorporated them into my artistic expression, which moves between the mediums of paint, silverpoint, and wood. I frequently explore a theme in more than one of these mediums.
Silverpoint: I’ve been drawing in silverpoint since 1985, at first copying portraits from Da Vinci, Van Eyck, Vermeer, Durer, and other Renaissance era artists. I've continued that practice, while also drawing from my large collection of animal skulls and shells. In this medium, the artist draws with a wire of silver that is inserted in a holder. 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 panels in pale colors of gray-blue and green, ochre, coral pink, lavender, adding highlights of white ink or pastel to the finished drawing.
Wood Mosaic: The wood mosaics that I began creating in the 1990s offer endless creative potential through choices of wood, texture, shape, color, metal leaf and other materials. A completed mosaic consists of hundreds of intricate sinuous, inter-locking, ever-evolving shapes that are inspired by nature's exquisite designs. The possibilities are simply endless!
From dreamers to day-dreamers or scenes from the natural world, 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.
Welcome to my cyber studio!
Norine
www.norinekevolic.com
Nkevolic@comcast.net
(215) 264-4018
2011 "Meditations on Nature" 2-person show Artists' Gallery, Lambertville, NJ
2011 "25 Years, 25 Mediums" Byers Bucks Fever Art Exhibition, Doylestown, PA
2011 "Love That Art" Artists' Gallery, Lambertville, NJ
2010 "Works in Wood 2010" (national juried) New Hope Arts, New Hope, PA
2010 "Earthly Pleasures" Crafthaus - online juried
2010 Trenton City Museum Ellarslie Open XXVIII, Trenton, NJ
2010 "Off The Floor" Crafthaus - online juried
2010 "Holiday Show" (invitational) Chapman Gallery, Doylestown, PA
2010 "Holiday Small Works"(invitational) Canal Frame-Crafts Gallery, Washington Crossing, PA
2010 The Salon at Artworks, Trenton, NJ 2010
2010 "Rally the Troops" (invitational) Canal Frame-Crafts Gallery, Washington Crossing, PA 2010
2009 "Works in Wood 2009" (national juried) New Hope Arts, New Hope, PA
2009 "Fish Show" (invitational) Swan Creek Studios, Lambertville, NJ
2009 "It's All About Art" Bucks Life Magazine's First Annual Juried Show, Bucks Gallery of Fine Art, Newtown, PA and New Hope Arts Center
2008 "Images of the Mills 2008" Prallsville Mills, Stockton, NJ
2008 "Works in Wood 2008" (national juried) New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA
2008 "Inside and Out: The Artist Views Hunterdon County" Prallsville Mills, Stockton, NJ
2007 "Works in Wood 2007" (national juried) New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA
2007 Hopewell Gallery / Frame Shop (group show) Hopewell, NJ
2006 "Works in Wood 2006" (national juried) New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA
2006 Phillips’ Mill 77th Exhibition 2006 New Hope, PA
2006 Trenton City Museum Ellarslie Open, Trenton, NJ
2006 "Works on Paper 2006" Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA
2006 Harrison Street Gallery (group show) Frenchtown, NJ
2005 Phillips’ Mill Juried Art Exhibition 2005 New Hope, PA
2004 “Portraits/Self-Portraits” The Gallery at Mercer County Community College, Trenton, NJ
2003 "Quiet Places"Atelier Gallery, (2-artist) Frenchtown, NJ
2002 "Traditions Old and New" Atelier Gallery, Frenchtown, NJ
2001 Prallsville Mills Juried Show, Stockton, NJ
2000 Artsbridge at Washington Crossing, PA and Stockton, NJ 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997
2000 Louisa Melrose Gallery Juried Show, Buckingham, PA
1999 "Works in Wood" David Rago Auction Center, Lambertville, NJ
1999 Phillips’ Mill Annual Juried Art Exhibition, New Hope, PA
1998 "New Century" Annual Art Exhibition New Hope, PA 1997, 1996, 1995
1997 "The Figure" Contemporary Arts Corridor Golden Door Gallery, New Hope, PA
1994 "Metalpoint Drawings” (2-artist) Pennington Library, Pennington, NJ
1993 Phillips’ Mill Annual Juried Art Exhibition New Hope, PA
Ricker Award for Painting Phillips’ Mill 77th Exhibition, New Hope, PA 2006
The Christensen Award for Painting Phillips’ Mill Juried Show, New Hope, PA 2005
Mixed Media Award Louisa Melrose Gallery, Buckingham, PA 2000
Greene and Greene Award Works in Wood Lambertville, NJ 1999
People’s Choice Award Artsbridge at Washington Crossing, PA 1997
New Hope Historical Society Award for Painting New Century Art at Golden Door Gallery, New Hope, PA 1996
Honorable Mention New Century Art Exhibition, New Hope, PA 1995
SilverpointWeb.com Contemporary Silverpoint Artists - gallery member
International Silverpoint Archives (ISA) Silverpoint Artist registry
Crafthaus (online) - member
American Craft Council- member
Nouveau Magazine – May 2011 issue "Meditations on Nature"
Nouveau Magazine – November 2010 issue "Afternoon in the Park"
The Times of Trenton, NJ – February 19, 2010 "Rallying the Park's Friends"
New Hope News – December 2009 "Talent Exhibited at Works in Wood"
New Hope Life Magazine – Mar. 2009 "New Hope Artist Norine Kevolic Exhibits Silverpoint Drawings" (Times Publishing Newspapers, Inc. includes 8 Bucks County newspapers)
Bucks County Herald – November 13, 2008 “Works in Wood”
The Intelligencer (Life) – Sunday, November 9, 2008 “Works in Wood is a National Draw”
Bucks County Courier Times (Sunday) – December 9, 2007 “Tree For All” review
Nouveau Magazine – December 2003 “Quiet Places” review
Lambertville Beacon – December 2002 “Traditions Old and New”
Bucks County Town & Country Living Magazine – Winter 2001-2002 edition “Gallery Profile” (wood mosaics)
New Hope Gazette – November 23, 2000 “Artist in Focus”
Princeton Packet – November 2000 Artsbridge Gallery Exhibition
The Trenton Times (Time Off Magazine) – November 2000 Artsbridge Gallery Exhibition
The Trenton Times (Sunday Edition) – October 1999 “Works in Wood” at David Rago Auction Center, Lambertville, NJ
The Philadelphia Inquirer – May 25, 1995 “New Century Art” exhibition at Golden Door Gallery, New Hope, PA
Pennington Post – September 22, 1994 “Metalpoint Drawings” review
The Trenton Times – September 16, 1994 “Elements of Stylus” review