HISTORIC ISSUES
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Vol.17
No.2 - 7/15/1882 |
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Courtesy of the New York
State Historical Association Library, Cooperstown, N.Y (.PDF files)
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April 2009
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February 2009
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New York Canal Times -
Online newspaper
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Mercury Media Group
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Halkowich: Life is born with oils and a canvas
By Janine Giordano |
jgiordano@rsmercury.com
JORDANVILLE – The clock ticked quietly in the warmth of Anna Halkowich’s Jordanville kitchen. The Halkowich dogs, Wolfie and Sheila, took turns begging for attention when not curled up nearby or looking for a pet or scratch behind an ear. Beyond sliding doors and a porch window lay a country scene straight out of Currier and Ives.
In the quiet comfort of the afternoon, two cardinals came to life on the Halkowich kitchen table. Although they were two dimensional and born from oil paints at Anna’s own hand, they appeared ready to take wing at any moment.
| | Town of Warren Clerk Anna Halkowich brings to life wildlife and local scenery with a touch of her paint brush and her imagination as she sits at her kitchen table. (Photo by Janine Giordano) | |
“I only started painting in 2005, after I retired in 2003,” said Halkowich, with a slight smile and a shrug.
Since then, the current clerk for the town of Warren has painted dozens of landscapes, the majority of which are on exhibit at the Jordanville Library throughout the month of December. Two of those on display are the original paintings used for Christmas cards she creates herself and sends out. The cardinals on her table are the third in her card collection series.
In addition to her desire to learn how to paint, Halkowich credits her new found ability to artist Wilson Bickford, who has taught art classes in the upstate New York area that she attended from time to time.
“He teaches you the basics, then you go home and paint on your own,” she explained. One of the concepts she took from Bickford was his ability to paint with minimal colors.
“It’s all about mixing paints to get the colors you want,” Halkowich said. “The nice thing about learning with him is you don’t need every color invented.”
For example, one painting on display at the library is a window scene looking out onto a snow covered field with evergreens and a barren white birch. “I painted that with blue, white, black and a little burnt sienna,” she said.
On her own, Halkowich has brought to life snowy scenes, beach scenes, butterflies, birds, gently flowing creeks, country farm lands and lakes with her keen eye and the gentle touch of her brush. While she has painted with the faster drying acrylics, she prefers painting with oils and the “wet on wet” experience, as it takes weeks for oils to dry.
While painting scenery is her forte, Halkowich says she really enjoys painting and playing with light in her pieces, especially light reflecting on water. A little less than half of the paintings featured at the library, which is her first exhibit ever, are water scenes, and many of the others are snow scenes, where sunlight and shadows blend across snowy fields, hillsides and mountains.
Although friends and family get to enjoy her talent via her Christmas cards she sends out, Halkowich has not focused on selling her work. “I’ve sold one, an eagle soaring over pine trees, to a friend. I’ve given several away for fundraisers. Two of my daughters, who don’t live in the area, came and took some of my paintings with them to Virginia and Florida,” she said.
In addition to those two daughters (Deirdre O’Donnell, of Florida, and Lenore Halkowich, of Virginia), Halkowich and her husband, Wasil, of 51 years, raised two other daughters, Marge Miller and Marsha Nelson, a large brood considering she was an only child of her parents, Leo and Bessie Hayes.
She came with them to Jordanville in 1956, and it was here she met her husband. Together they raised their family on their dairy farm, while she worked at full time at Leatherstocking Travel in Cooperstown, and part time as town clerk.
While once her job as town clerk was a part-time position, she noted how over the years things have changed. The paperwork, state requirements and local issues are just a few reasons why she now finds herself working full-time hours for part-time pay. “Everything takes advantage of the computer age, but hasn’t cut down on the paperwork,” she explained.
As her husband took a break from his farm chores, Halkowich nodded toward him as he explained, “I just retired, too. I won’t take up painting though.”
She laughed and said, “He doesn’t even paint walls.”
With that he stood up and went back to the farm, leaving his wife of 51 years in the warmth of their kitchen, while she painted a feast of red berries for the cardinals resting quietly on her kitchen table.
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