She Explores the Worlds of Murals, Jazz and More

The blue rose was painted on the Hi-Way Florist building located in St.Louis. In its uniqueness and blue color it embraces love, the striving for the infinite, the eternal and the beauty of all things.

BUTTERFLY MURAL

Reflects part of Carondelet’s history and symbolically represents positive light for the transformation of Carondelet. The butterfly was painted to embrace transformation, metamorphosis, endurance, change, hope, and life.

She Explores the Worlds of Murals, Paintings, Philosophy, and All That Jazz

BY G E R RY M A N D E L

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Mmeeting with Vesna Delevska at her Chesterfield gallery was accompanied by the sounds of cool jazz. She loves American jazz, listens to it constantly, and paints to it. Jazz has become a powerful creative force in her art and her life. Born and raised in Macedonia, Vesna wanted to go to the United States. Her parents were supportive and urged her to go to Oklahoma as an exchange student, where her brother was in college. She enrolled at the University of Oklahoma, graduated, moved to Kansas City, then to St. Louis, where she has lived for the past twelve years. “In Macedonia I was preoccupied with a strict and traditional education,” she said. “My work was subject to a lot of harsh criticism.” She was driven to do something more with her life, and found education much freer here. “I realized I could dream something creative here, not traditional.” Her father, who lives in Macedonia, is an artist and a guiding force in her life. He

helped give her the confidence to pursue her dream, a dream that has become a reality for her in St. Louis. “I love St. Louis,” she says enthusiastically. “It is something different for me, older and more interesting. It has a soul.”

Most of her art has been paintings on canvas in traditional sizes. Her style and subjects, however, are not traditional.

She often explores the fantasy, the metaphysical, the hidden beauty of nature.

The walls of her gallery are filled with her paintings in a dazzling display of colors and subjects, but all of them probing the deeper meanings of life and the universe.

Vesna also expanded her talents to include murals, which began in Kansas

City. She found she could express herself better in this larger format. “It started as my personal extension to get to a deeper level. For me, it seemed like a whole different reality.” Murals required her to think and plan differently, beginning with a sketch, which she would then project onto the wall and proceed to paint, making changes as it evolved.

She has several murals in and around St. Louis. They include the Shell Building downtown, The Monarch in Carondolet, and Friday South Bar and Grill in Collinsville. One of my favorites was a block-long jazz-themed painting in Grand Center. It was supposed to be up for two weeks for a street festival, but remained for three years before being dismantled. Which brings us to Vesna and music. She grew up influenced by classical music, but discovered jazz in St. Louis. Not just jazz, but “live” jazz. It started in a coffee shop. “We would bring musicians in. I listened to them, saw them perform ‘live,’ became inspired by the sound and the atmosphere.” Painting to music uncovered a completely different direction for her. “I feel like a musician, even though I don’t play an instrument. I have no idea what I’m going to do, and then the music starts…” Inspiration and imagination take it from there, to create her “live jazz” paintings. She connects with the rhythm and sound, the freedom of interpretation, improvising along with the musicians. “The music moves me to new colors, new realms of awareness.” A few words about her spiritual explorations: “Psychiatry and psychology attracted me in college. Now I read all kinds of things, including Eastern philosophy, books on self-consciousness, and the writings of Jiddu Krishnamurti.” She has also been deeply involved in the St. Louis art community since 2009. That includes the Regional Arts Commission, the Artists Guild, St. Louis Community Colleges, and the Prison Performing Arts, as well as other non-profit organizations. Her paintings have been sold throughout the world, including Australia, Canada, Asia and Europe. Stop by her gallery at 140 Chesterfield Mall. For more of her work and contact information about purchases and lessons, visit Vesna-art.com.

This mural was painted directly on a framed wooden surface attached to a brick wall. It served a purpose to expand the smaller or more closed feel of the outdoor patio. The soft and rich colors of the forest soften the more masculine look of the brick combined with the heavier wooden outdoor furniture. In its perspective and light it creates depth, expansion and a beautiful connection with nature.

GRAND CENTER MURAL

This mural was commissioned by Grand Center and its purpose was to help celebrate the annual “Dancing In The Streets” outdoor festival through visual arts. My goal was to show movement through Music and Dance. Its transparency resembles sound while the painted figures are like instruments connecting and portraying the essence of sound in form and beauty.