Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 15, 1995 TAG: 9509150032
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS BANKS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
- Pablo Picasso
Joni Pienkowski has been practicing her form of magic - painting - for more than 40 years.
Living above her father's grocery store, the artist's early years in Wisconsin were spent slurping free Popsicles ("All I had to do was go downstairs and ask Daddy for one," she writes), hanging out with her friends ("Not malls. Pre-TV. We hiked; the Kickapoo hills were our mainstay, our refuge from adults and school....") and painting.
"From age 10 to 14, I painted on store windows (mostly holiday scenes) and truck doors (Olde English lettering), Juke boxes (can you imagine!) and did posters for four different churches (their annual suppers). I made portraits of friends, dogs, horses, and traded for comic books, horseback rides, a fiddle concert, records, some music lessons. But I liked best to have money so I could buy all the paper and posterboard I wanted from the man who printed the Kickapoo Scout newspaper."
Pienkowski grew up, studied art at the University of Wisconsin, moved to Virginia and settled in Blacksburg where she became a teacher, a mother, a Good Samaritan and an important artist.
Her award-winning work has been exhibited at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, the Parthenon in Nashville, the William Dale Gallery in New Orleans and the Franz Bader Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Local arts patrons don't have to travel far to admire Pienkowski's work. She frequently participates in shows at Radford University, Virginia Tech and other sites in the area.
"Paradox at One Elbow," a collection of the artist's works from 1950 to 1990, is the current show at the Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley. The show's title is from a poem Pienkowski wrote about her calling.
The exhibition at the center in Pulaski runs through September. It's at 21 West Main St. and open weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Pienkowski donated 50 copies of the catalog for "Paradox at One Elbow" to the Fine Arts Center for this show. Make sure you buy one. You'll be as captivated by the artist's way with words are you are with her paintings.
JUST-A-SWINGIN': The Southwest Virginia Swing Dance Society is barreling into fall.
The group will have a dance tonight at the Blacksburg Community Center on Patrick Henry Drive. If you're new to swing dancing, come for the beginners' class from 7 to 8 p.m. Dancing to recorded music follows from 8 to 11 p.m.
The dancers move to all kinds of musical styles, including big band tunes, rock 'n' roll and rhythm-and-blues.
The $4 admission includes refreshments. Children are welcome with adults. You don't even have to have a partner to join in the dancing.
Just two no-nos: no smoking and no alcohol.
For more information, call 381-5028.
IT'S A STRING THING: Martin Irving, a string teacher at Radford University, will entertain chamber music lovers Tuesday. His recital starts at 8 p.m. in Preston Auditorium on the Radford campus.
Irving was a member of the State Orchestra of Victoria, Canada, and has played with many orchestras in this country, including the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra.
He has traveled the United States, participating in music festivals and performing as a guest artist with such groups as San Francisco's Van Damien Quartet.
Irving will be joined by pianist Elizabeth Bachelder, guitarist Robert Trent and violinist Charles Jarrett at Tuesday's recital. Caryl Conger will play harpsichord.
The recital features works by Mozart, Paganini and Brahms. Admission is $3 for adults, $1 for children and free with Radford University identification.
MUSIC EDUCATION: A sonata is a composition in several movements for one or two musical instruments. Ludwig van Beethoven wrote 10 sonatas for violin and piano.
David Jacobsen, a flutist, decided he wanted to play Beethoven's violin sonatas on the flute. The idea, he says, wasn't original. Transcribing works for alternate instruments was done during Beethoven's day at informal musical gatherings and was a common practice during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Jacobsen will play three of the sonatas in a recital Saturday with pianist Caryl Conger. The works he transcribed for the recital are Sonata No. 1 in D Major, Sonata No. 4 in A Minor and Sonata No. 10 in G Major. He chose the three because he thought they were the most convincing to play at the recital.
Jacobsen and Conger will perform at 8 p.m. in the recital salon at Squires Student Center. Tickets, available at the Squires ticket office Saturday evening, are $3.
WHERE'S RANDY COWARD? He's either at the rodeo, the fair, the festival, the park, the church or the parking lot.
No matter where he is, Coward's doing what he does best - singin' and preachin'!
The Christian country music recording artist will perform Sunday at 7 p.m. at Rockford United Methodist Church. This is his second visit to the Fairlawn church.
Coward's hit list includes such songs as "The Dream," "Keep My Mind in You" and "Crazy 'Bout Jesus." The tunes were in the top five on the Cashbox Christian Country charts.
Coward's concert Sunday is free and open to the public. For more information, call Will Shewey, pastor of Rockford United Methodist Church, at 639-5185.
DEEP STUFF: Jean-Paul Sartre wasn't your happy-go-lucky kind of guy.
"Man is a useless passion," the French philosopher once wrote.
In his writing, Sartre examined man's self-deception and insignificance. His novels, plays and short stories represent his existential philosophy.
"No Exit," a Sartre play that explores the idea of life after death, is the upcoming workshop production by the Virginia Tech-University Theatre. You can catch it Monday through Wednesday in Room 204 of the Performing Arts Building. Shows start at 8 each evening and admission is free.
The characters in "No Exit" are stuck in a room together where they play the games they learned from life. Because they deceive themselves, the games never end. They find no exit from their lives or from each other.
Sartre's point: "Hell is just other people."
by CNB