Artists Evolve through the Generations

 

By Nancy K. Crevier

inda Dohanos thinks of Barn Hill Studio & Gallery in Monroe as a place of refuge from the onslaught of commercialization and ecological duress of civilization, and now for a brief period of time her studio, opened in 1992, is a peaceful showplace for the artwork of three generations from two families: her own, and that of her friend and collaborator, Julia Provey of Sandy Hook.

“Through The Generations” is a retrospective at Barn Hill Studio & Gallery that opened recently and will remain on view through January 1, 2008, exhibiting the art work of Linda Dohanos, her mother, Florence Dohanos, and her grandfather Stevan Dohanos, and works by Julia Provey, her mother, Linda Sikes, and Julia’s grandfather, Bennet Durand.

It is the first time that the three generations have exhibited their works together, but the second time that Linda and Julia have collaborated on a show.

Introduced through mutual friends, Linda and Julia discovered that they had a lot in common in their approaches to art.

“Julia was sculpting at her family’s farm in New York and I was working on sculpture here,” said Linda. “We quickly realized that we could make bigger pieces if we worked together and helped each other.” The idea swiftly became a “concrete” plan, literally and figuratively, as the woman produced the “Concrete Blondes” show in June, a collection of large figurines and faces sculpted from concrete also presented at Barn Hill Studio & Gallery.

As they worked (“So in sync!” Linda exclaimed), the two women realized that both had come from families where art was an everyday occurrence and that they both had mothers and grandfathers who were accomplished artists, as well. When both of their mothers visited Barn Hill Studio in June for the “Concrete Blondes” exhibit, and the daughters observed a kindred spirit between them all, Julia and Linda decided that a retrospective show of the three generations would be fun.

“Our mothers were very open to the idea, I would say,” said Julia. “They were enthusiastic and helped us a lot.”

“Through The Generations” is a feast for the eyes, they  hope, with the varied medias of the artists pleasing to a broad spectrum  of art lovers.

Julia’s grandfather, Bennet Durand, was noted for his more realistic pieces that focused on portraits and places. The first in a long line of farmers and scientists to choose art as a career path, he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, studying under John Sloane and Robert Henri. While portraiture was his love, he found a career as a technical illustrator for the Navy Department in Washington, D.C., and as an art director. His works, done in oil on canvas, stand in contrast to his daughter’s lighter, airier landscapes and his granddaughter’s fantastical paintings.

Lucy Durand Sikes has found success as a graphic designer, and as an acrylic artist specializing in clouds and trees as well as the old structures that dot western New York landscape around the ancestral farm home that has inspired all three generations. Ms Sikes studied illustration at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and while raising her family there, contributed art to publicity for the Brownstone Revival Committee and other neighborhood organizations.

Lucy Sikes finds the three-generation show to be a fascinating thing, and an example of how each generation has been allowed to do whatever their view of art was.

“My father did not impose any art education on me and I did not impose any on Julia, and I see Julia doing the same with her family,” said Ms Sikes. “I was delighted when I heard that Julia and Linda were planning this exhibition. I have not shown my works for awhile, but I am inspired now to show more,” she said.

“I remember my grandfather having his easel set up and painting a scene out his window, but not a lot about him, really. He died when I was only 12, so he never got to know me as an artist, either,” said Julia. “My grandfather would do a series of sketches and then go to his studio and execute them there. My mother would sit in a field and paint, and I’m back in the studio.”

In the top-floor studio of her Sandy Hook home, Julia’s artwork has taken on a personality diverse from the artwork of her grandfather or mother.

“My mother really loves nature and I know I’ve inherited that from her,” she said. “I don’t paint realistic scenes, but in my art work there are very natural lines that flow and a very organic sense of design.” Her own paintings are large, bold, and colorful works with a dreamlike quality and a modernist influence. They reflect an inner world and also her reflections on the political and social world around her, such as one painting called “Don’t Get Up Remember Rosa,” a reference to Rosa Parks.

“I’m beginning to combine poetry with paintings,” said Julia, who also crafts quilts, hats and dolls, and photographs the temporary sculptures she creates from clay along the river banks of the New York farm, or snow or sand, depending on where she is. Her permanent sculptures often incorporate elements of nature, with rocks or twigs imbedded in clay or concrete.

Linda Dohanos has also seen her art grow in a very different direction from her grandfather’s or mother’s works.

“My grandfather was always working on something,” said Linda of Stevan Dohanos, who passed away in 1994. His name may be familiar to those who remember the now defunct Saturday Evening Post, as he created a number of covers for the publications during the 1940s and ‘50s. Stevan Dohanos also designed numerous postage stamps for the United State Postal Service.

“His paintings were a sort of Americana,” said Linda, “and a lot of the scenes he painted were bits of life and often had a humorous hint to them. He had a funny sense of humor.”

His later works were of cultural American icons, still lifes of ordinary objects, but not the usual apples and oranges. Several such examples are part of the retrospective show.

Florence Dohanos, primarily a self-taught artist, uses watercolors to depict landscapes, using light and dark and intricate natural patterns to capture a moment. Portraits in oil are also a specialty that Florence has mastered. Retired now, Ms Dohanos is pleased to have more time to pursue her art.

Ms Dohanos has previously shown her work with Linda and her other two daughters, Jennifer and Karen, in Westport.

“I think it is kind of nice that Linda and my other daughters are artists, too,” she said. “I’ve always painted,” said Ms Dohanos, but like Julia’s family, art was not something forced on the generations. “The basic toys that Linda and her sisters had were things like paper, glue, crayons, old cardboard boxes, Play-Doh, and tape. They made most of the things they played with. I just gave them the stuff to do art and they did it.

This is the only time she has had her work exhibited with the work of Stevan Dohanos, though. “The retrospective was a wonderful idea,” said Ms Dohanos. “I think [the retrospective] is good in keeping the Stevan Dohanos history alive. My father-in-law was an admirable American artist.”

Seeing the three generations displayed together is very nice, she said, and she is able to truly appreciate the variances in their work.

“The thing I admire about Linda’s artwork is that she uses her imagination. I do a very realistic impression of things, but her work is so imaginative. I’m happy, too, that Linda is trying to bring an awareness about the art in the Monroe community through her studio. It is just beautiful,” Ms Dohanos said.

 “Being in art studios all of my life and just being around an atmosphere where people were always doing art, discussing each other’s paintings, had a big influence on me,” said Linda. “My mom was always sketching and talking to me in a way that I think is not so common in a lot of families, things like  her observations about light and color. That has affected the way I see the world.”

Linda is a painter, but for her it is a more recreational, playful approach to art. “I love the colors, the really bright palettes,” she said, and in her paintings reality collides with symbolism and images from dreams. But her preferred media is a three-dimensional form. “I chose clay. I fell in love with clay in high school, and it gave me my own ‘place’ in art. It is hard if you try to follow in the footsteps of two successful painters.”

Linda’s clay sculptures are imaginative and somewhat mythical figurines inspired by several years of living in New Mexico and by her travels in Mexico. They are hand-built and fired in her kiln at Barn Hill Studio, and incorporate Raku firing, underglazing, and enamel painting.

“Symbolism does come up in my work, and is important. I have been quite influenced by Latin America, and symbolism is common in the art of Latin America and Mexico,” said Linda.

The faces of her sculptures are central to her artistic expressions, said Linda. “I love faces and they show up so much in my work.” Not just faces, but faces on clay heads make up one piece displayed in her studio, as a matter of fact. “Gray Matter” is a series of heads, each one expressing a feeling. “Thoughts Rattling Around In My Head” invites viewers to pick it up and shake it. Dark empty eyes are “Seeing The Void,” and a long ticker tape printed with random thoughts spews from the mouth of “Thoughts Spill From My Head.”

A relatively new form of art on which Linda is working currently is that of combining painting and ceramic art. The multimedia works incorporate mosaics and tiles made by Linda into her oil paintings.

Growing up with other artists means learning who you are versus copying the work of another, said both Julia and Linda. “You have to be careful how you take criticism from each other. We do respect each other’s differences,” said Linda.

Always being immersed in an “artsy” world, Julia said it was actually some time before she realized she was an “artist,” too.

“It is really different seeing all of the paintings [of the three generations] together in one space. When you are around them all of the time, growing up, you don’t notice them so much,” Linda observed about the retrospective.

While the works of the three generations are not alike in many respects, they all contain one common value, said Linda.

“All three generations have a deep passion for art, and that shows.”

Julia and Linda plan to continue working on large sculptures and other art projects together, even as they continue to explore their individual expressions. “We don’t even have to talk when we work,” said Linda. “We just get on a roll and start creating. It’s amazing.”

Whether or not future multi-generational shows are in the works is to be seen, they said, but with younger generations coming up, it is certainly not out of the question.

“Through The Generations” may be viewed at Barn Hill Studio & Gallery, 20 Barn Hill Road (Route 110) in Monroe, Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 6 pm, through January 1, or by appointment. For information and directions, call 268-4225 or visit BarnHillStudio.com.