7 minute read
Norine Kevolic
Foggy Steps
Working in silverpoint, oils, wood and bamboo, Norine Kevolic compares her creative process to steps along a path in the fog, seeing a clear path, and then another—an ongoing process
By Bob Waite
The process of creating art is studied by art historians, written about by art critics and thought about by artists themselves. For Norine Kevolic it is an interaction between her guiding idea and the materials that she uses. However, this interaction is not onesided. The materials actually have a say in the matter. She says, “I usually have an idea in mind, but I want to work with a material and push that in a new way.” Born in Philadelphia and raised in Bucks County, Norine grew up with a deep appreciation for art. Her father was a technical illustrator at the Naval Air Engineering Center in Lakehurst and before that for
Opposite, Norine Kevolic stands in her living room surrounded by art she created. Top, in “Forest Wrap,” branches wrap pieces of various kinds of wood. Bottom, a detail from “Forest Wrap” showing that the individual pieces of wood are beveled, layered, painted and are different in shape and size. Each piece is actually a sculpture in its own right.
Above, “Dream Keeper” has at its center a bamboo moon made of shredded strands of bamboo. Opposite is “Vespers,” a mystical work inspired by a Russian Orthodox service using 24-carat gold leaves to represent the prayers and hopes of people. the Philadelphia Naval Yard. He was also a painter who encouraged his daughter’s early attempts at drawing and painting. He would gently critique her work and he would bring her to art museums in New York City, instilling in her a deep experiential knowledge and appreciation of art. Norine’s dad also was skilled in the art of painting Orthodox icon eggs, and this Christian tradition would influence Norine’s work, especially her early mosaics.
In her twenties Norine began to paint more fluently. She had a friend who shared this enthusiasm for painting, and they would paint together. She did a lot of painting in Asbury Park, New Jersey. In the mid-eighties she worked in a sign shop where she
designed, lettered, carved and band-sawed signs. At an artistowned woodshop she routed, sanded and did the finish work on custom cabinetry and also designed picture frames. After hours she would prepare silverpoint panels. “It was just great,” she says, “we had the shop and made frames for them. So, after hours, we would cut and prepare our panels—using traditional techniques that go back to the 1400s.” Silverpoint is a type of drawing in which an artist uses thin pieces of silver wire held in a stylus to make marks on a prepared surface. The surface needs to “have a tooth,” to grab the silver which the artist prepares my either making her own mixture as was done in the sign shop or using an already prepared mixture. The surface is often toned with a background color, and Norine, when doing silverpoint, adds her own color to some of her drawings. Early on in her use of this medium, she would make copies of Renaissance paintings. These are still in demand. One of these silverpoint works is Botticelli’s Brother, where she uses a toned surface with paint added to the drawing. Norine continues to do small silverpoint drawings every day.
In the ‘90s Norine began to
incorporate her woodworking experience into her work by using wood as a medium for her art. Her first mosaics would detail images from her family background in Russian Orthodoxy. At this time, she started collecting wood. She says on her Website, “I hoarded discarded scraps of walnut, cherry, poplar, and plywood and spent countless pleasant hours at the bandsaw cutting hundreds of shapes from these natural, painted, dyed or gilded pieces. These early efforts resulted in colorful figurative mosaics that were stylistic portraits, incorporating gold leaf and other decorative elements of Byzantine art.”
As she continued with wood, she added bamboo to her creations and her work became more abstract. A great example of this combination is Dream Keeper. This sculpture has at its center a bamboo moon. The moon makes its appearance in many of Norine’s paintings. She recalls, “There was never a night when my father and I didn’t stand outside and look at the night sky.” She also recalls a poem by Langston Hughes, The Dream Keeper, “… about people who have a dream and just put it out there, and trust.”
Dream Keeper began with an idea that Norine modified as she made it. “I had a vision and at the same time I wanted to push the material and see where that goes.” She used thin strands of bamboo to create the moon. Norine had to split poles of bamboo and cut the thin strands. Each ring in Dream Keeper is an individual element. She says, “I take each piece and try to create a sculptural element.”
All Norine’s Creations begin with an idea, which she is always thinking about. “I think about it a lot. I think about it while at work and it is always in the background.” She says, “As I work steps along the way will appear and I am just paying attention to these—things as they happen. I am really aware of subtle shifts in my attention. I follow it and give it as much energy as it needs. And I find as I do that I am somehow guided. Then another step appears. It’s like walking in the fog. You know, you’ll see a clear stretch of a path, then another. You keep going deeper and deeper. It’s all very interesting. I don’t know what the end result will be. So, it’s a surprise to me and I really like that challenge and that journey—that long journey.”
Forest Wrap is a piece that hangs on Norine’s living room wall. It looks like a present—beautifully finished pieces of wood wrapped in branches on a painted wooden panel.
“I wanted to try something with wrapping wood where the wrap made from branches goes from side to side and across. I built the panel, found the branches and since I have a lot of different woods in my shop—cherry, mahogany, cedar, poplar pine, I started creating with what’s on hand. The individual pieces are beveled, layered and of different sizes. They start on the bandsaw and then are finished by hand. Some are stained a little and others are just natural. It’s really not preplanned. I work intuitively. As I create these pieces, I may not know where to begin. I’m just creating, creating, creating. I’m laying them out and I start stacking them—this can be never ending. It feels never ending in the beginning, but by paying attention I start seeing a pattern or direction and just follow it.” The finished piece is “…a forest wrapping itself around these refined pieces.”
Vespers is a piece inspired by a visit to Norine’s sister’s church to go to the gift shop. The service was happening, while Norine and her sister were browsing in the gift shop. Norine, leaving the gift shop, peered into the Russian Orthodox Church service. She says, “It was a beautiful scene, the candlelight, the incense, the mystical feeling.” In Vespers, Norine captures that
moment and universalizes it with this bamboo piece that uses 24-carat gold leaves going upward that represents the prayers and hopes of people. “It’s a simple idea and I give it form and visual space.”
Norine Kevolic is the recipient of many awards and has exhibited her work extensively throughout the area. Some of the local and regional venues are: New Hope Arts, Phillips’ Mill, Stover Mill, Prallsville Mill, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Art in City Hall (Philadelphia), Duke Gallery (Wallingford, PA), Mid-Atlantic Invitational Silverpoint Exhibition (Gaithersburg, MD), Trenton City Museum, Artist’s Gallery (Lambertville, NJ), Grounds For Sculpture (Hamilton, NJ), Makers Gallery (Frenchtown, NJ) and various online venues. Although she has received many awards, she is most happy the Best in Show Award for Works in Wood 2017, New Hope Arts, New Hope, PA and the CRAFT Award from the American Bamboo Society Arts & Crafts Competition American Bamboo Society (ABS online) September 2016.
Her paintings are available at Chapman Gallery, 46 E. State Street, Doylestown, PA; (215) 348-2011; www.thechapman gallery.com and Canal Frame Crafts Gallery, 1093 General Greene Road, Washington Crossing, PA; 215-493-3660; www.canalframe.com.
Bob Waite is the editor of Bucks County Magazine and Bucks County Home & Garden Guide.
