814-Lancastkr Fuming, Saturday, February 21, 1998 Artist Expresses Soul Thro GAY BROWNLEE Somerset Co. Correspondent BERLIN (Somerset Co.) From fragile flowers to animals, her soul seems to be expressing it self when Shirley Tataleba puts her paintbrush to work on the wa tercolors she loves so well to do. Rich hues and mysterious sha dows of the hibiscus blossom, for instance, may leave one caught in its cares for untold moments, as if it were the reality. Of the magnolia, iris and others, the same is true. And her brush lovingly captures the corralled horses the native farm girl imagines grazing in a fenced field. “I was bom and raised on a farm,” says Shirley, indicating in the panoramic landscape visible through the picture window, Whitehorse Mountain where she grew up. “I love animals, especially my little Mitzi,” she says, alluding to a nearby Siamese house cat She adopted it from the assorted feline orphans housed at the humane so ciety’s local animal shelter. A devoted wife of 4S years to husband, John Tataleba and mother of their three children Gail, Gary and Gwen Shirley was a busy homemaker who hand made most of their clothes when the kids were younger. Later she held part-time jobs, but in the housewife’s deepest heart, an artist was waiting to be bom. The opportunity came in the summer of 1980 when Gwen was college bound. Shirley enrolled in a class that Laurel Arts in Somer set was offering. “I started with oils first because I thought it would be easier,” she recalls. Then in 1987 she painted her first watercolor. I wasn’t pleased with my first watercolor,” Shirley says, re trospectively. I just had no con trol It was very amateurish,” the late Uootner, who in essence re sembles the beauties pollinating on her studio work table, reports. A still life oil painting of old crocks, however, was her first sale, after a friend who worked at a local bank had urged Shirley to display it there. The reminiscent piece soon attracted a buyer. “Blggsrthan life, almost Ilka you can get into them,” says Shirley Tataleba about her watercolor of pink hibiscus. “I was happy, but at the same time.” she remembers, “I felt a sense of loss.” Whether or not she felt like working, Shirley developed a paint-everyday habit that takes a recess only on Sundays. “I have to be almost psyched up to paint,” she says. “Once I get started the creativity begins to flow.” As her confidence grew, the home florist, and to her daugh ters an exemplar of home making arts, Shirley began enter ing competitions,, encouraged to the place where her works, along side those of other artists, could be judged. By 1989 the Pennsylvania Federation of Women’s Club Photography Competition had awarded her a state second place. Then came the Harley Hotel Award at the Penn Hills (Alle gheny County) Arts Council Show in 1992, and on, until the awards 13 in all last year found her named 1997 Somerset County Woman in the Arts by the General Federation of Woman’s Clubs. While watercolor is her prefer red media because she so likes its softness and its transparency “Its luminosity seems to be a natural for capturing the iridescent color of flowers,” she said; the artistic explorer also delves into other mediums to discover new possibilities. These include pen and ink, charcoal, mixed media, and or iental painting. “I don’t limit myself to flower painting,” the artist who “paints in her mind’s eye,” she states. “I see something that catches my eye and a painting begins.” When a critique of her work is needed, her retired, reliable spouse give Shirley an honest opinion about it On the thickly-covered framing table, the skills she learned in framing class are put to use as she and John, together, encase the fin ished paintings behind glass. “Did you say I was retired?” interjected John upon overhearing his better-half saying so. “I didn’t know that,” he added, teasing her. The Tatalebas sacrificed their personal comfort by turning the master suite into an art studio be cause its norther exposure allowed 't, <w. * iv A W fp| -y Tataleba did this watercolor of irises on je paper. Her one-woman„ jw In the Holmes Gallery, Latrobe, Westmoreland County runs from Feb. 13 to March 27. natural light to flood in. The smaller bedroom, with determina tion, was comfortably furnished. “It’s very important to have good lighting. I prefer to paint with natural light,” she says. Fluorescent lamps give supple mental lighting directly over the painting table. “Working in a flower bed is re laxation.” Shirley, a grandmother who rides horseback with her four grandkids, said, adding merrily, “but John won’t let me plant any more flower beds.” The two and a half-acre site on a small knoll that skirts the bor ough should support any number of decorative plots without crowd ing John too much. They moved into the ranch-style house in 1960. Shirley said. Inside, none of the wall hang ings have the “Shirley Tataleba” signature on them. “I never hang my own paintings in my house,” she says. “I would be forever critiquing them.” Neither does she give her paint ings as personal gifts because an other person’s taste in art cannot be predicted, she said. From Feb. 13 through March 27, Shirley’s work will be featured in a one-woman show at the Hol mes Gallery in Latrobe (West moreland County) Hospital. The Holmes show, her fourth at the venue, will exhibit all mediums, including watercolor on rice paper, pen and ink, that Shir- Watercolors ley has done. She and John, with heavy card board and blankets will carefully pack each of the 25 fragile, vary ing sized pieces into the family car for the drive to Latrobe. Their road time to the gallery will ex ceed one hour. “We have our system,” the or ganizer who is affiliated with three area galleries, said. They are From the Heart in Somerset, Tub Mill Art Gallery, Salisbury and the Dogwood Gallery at Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Cham pion. All are located in Somerset County. Life’s vagaries no doubt ac count for the musicianship that bypassed Shirley and John but made a strong showing in their kids. Likek his two granddads, Gary is a violinist. Gwen, an alumna of Penn State, played clarinet in its Blue Band. Gary is unmarried and Gwen’s husband is John Hartman. Shirley’s father-in-law, who in 1912 migrated from Europe to the United States, later handcrafted a cello for her and violin for his son, John. Although ‘Tap,” is no longer living, his survivors, especially, granddaughter Gail, Dwight Smith’s wife, is highly interested in the family’s European roots. That’s why, the information that Shirley saw in a publication of the Pennsylvania Watercolor So- ciety about an artist in the Ukraine, was so exciting for the mother-daughter duo who, cur rently, are working on a genealogy. To make a long story short, the artist was recently contacted. He shortly astonished the Tatalcbas by locating John’s first cousin now living in the Ukraine, and helped them make the connection. In hand they have a letter, but are waiting for an opportune time in the schedule of their interpreter who will reveal the contents of the neatly-written communication. Besides the Pennsylvania Wa tcrcolor Society, Shirley belongs to the Bedfprd County Arts Coun cil. Somerset County Artists As sociation, Laurel Arts, Tub Mill Arts, and the Allied Artists of Johnstown. Her paintings have appeared in shows throughout western Penn sylvania and Maryland including the Japanese-American Interna tional Watercolor Exhibition tour and the Cumberland Valley Art ists Exhibition in Hagerstown, Md. Many are also in privately owned and business-owned col lections. Shirley credits God with the limitless inspiration that nature it self provides. “I feel God has given us so much beauty to enjoy,” she says in summary of all the Creator has given to his children everywhere. D OTES •it'. “ 1 » I*. 5
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