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Voice of the Artist: Ron Jesiolowski
Voice of the Artist: Ron Jesiolowski
Leaving a Legacy
By Andrea Iglar
Ron Jesiolowski is celebrating 70 years in art.
The South Fayette resident started drawing when he was 3 years old, as many children do. But he never stopped.
“I really have never had a pause in my whole life of not drawing,” Jesiolowski said in October as he prepared to open his first solo art exhibition in 28 years.
“It’s become pretty much my soul, my passion, the way I express myself.”
Jesiolowski’s 30-piece show, “Visual Stories & Allegories,” was held this fall at the McMurray Art League gallery in Peters. Opening weekend drew about 100 people.
Encompassing decades of his work in oils, acrylics, pen and ink, and watercolors, the exhibition gave viewers the opportunity to contemplate his images and interpret his symbols, colors and composition.
“When you exhibit, you’re sharing a perspective and point of view, and you’re creating a platform for people to react to,” Jesiolowski said. “You feel like you’re opening doors sometimes if people take the time to absorb the work.”
He has exhibited his fine art for several decades, including at the Carnegie Museum of Art and other major venues. In recent years, he included some pieces in various art shows but had not held a major solo show since 1996.
A former commercial artist and college instructor, Jesiolowski moved from Pine Township to Saddlewood Condominiums in South Fayette Township four years ago. He set up a home studio where he draws, paints, and writes philosophical and humorous musings to accompany his works.
Jesiolowski, who grew up in O’Hara Township, enjoyed a long corporate career working in technical and then commercial art, combining artistic principles and marketing skills to design packaging for toothpaste, pet food and other consumer products.
He also was a professor of drawing, painting and printmaking at Waynesburg and La Roche universities.
Now retired, he prefers to create art for his own enjoyment—while also appreciating chances to share his art.
“Sometimes it feels to me like if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it really matter? I feel that way about my art,” he said.
Jesiolowski’s work shows a breadth of styles and mediums, but he gravitates toward oil painting. He often uses symbolism and takes inspiration from artists such as surrealist Salvador Dali and Renaissance painter Leonardo da Vinci. He even completed a version of an unfinished da Vinci work, inserting his own face in a crowd of people just has da Vinci had painted himself into the piece.
Although he accepts occasional commissions, Jesiolowski said he prefers to hold onto his pieces— which essentially are “a visual diary” of his life—so he eventually can pass them down to his daughter Lauren, who is an art teacher, and his 13-year-old grandson Aaron.
His art, Jesiolowski said, is his legacy: “It’s my way of being immortal.”
