ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 3, 1996 TAG: 9605030039
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: KATHIE DICKENSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
Fans and newcomers to the work of local artist Joni Pienkowski will have a treat Sunday at "An Afternoon With ... Joni Pienkowski" from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Virginia Tech's Owens Banquet Hall.
Pienkowski will display and discuss a spectrum of her work, including some of her latest pieces and some very old ones. She has selected about 10 pieces covering the years 1950 to 1990, "roughly age 10 to age 50," Pienkowski said. Some of the work has never been shown locally.
The event is the third annual "Afternoon With ..." program held to benefit community education and public affairs programs of the New River Center of Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge. In 1994 Victoria Bond and Ann Goette presented excerpts from the opera "Travels." Last year poet Nikki Giovanni read from her work.
Sunday, guests will enjoy gourmet coffee, tea sandwiches and desserts while mingling and talking with Pienkowski during the first hour of the program. During the second hour, Pienkowski will talk about her work.
"Joni is so modest. She said 'I don't know if people will be interested in me or not. I'll just tell a little bit about growing up,'" said Margaret Shuler, a co-chairwoman of the event.
Pienkowski noted at least one viewer, upon seeing work she did as a 10-year-old, commented that "there's hope for everyone."
Pienkowski, who has lived in Blacksburg since 1961, is a longtime favorite artist in the region and is widely known and respected outside the area. She has shown her paintings in national competitions and invitationals and for 30 years her work has been in three prominent Washington, D.C., galleries.
Three years ago the Franz Bader Gallery in Washington filled three rooms with her series "Homage to Paint Saints and Friends," which she is expanding. Recently she has completed commissions for TRW Inc. and the Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae) in Washington, a large painting for the Wallace Hall Atrium at Virginia Tech and a piece for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Most of her earlier work is abstract, based on nature, but for the "Paint Saints" series she turned to figurative painting. Pienkowski avoids the word "realistic" when talking about her recent work. "Like the public," she said, "I'm sometimes confused by the terms 'abstract and real.' They're all real to me."
Blacksburg residents Virle and Al Payne are the honorary chairs of Sunday's event. The Paynes "are longtime supporters of Planned Parenthood," said Hazel Bernard, associate director of development for Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge. "This is a way to publicly thank them for their friendship and support of many, many years."
Tickets for "An Afternoon With ... Joni Pienkowski" are $15 per person and can be purchased at the door or reserved by calling 951-7009. Students with a valid ID can purchase tickets at the door for $10.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Joni Pienkowski's "Homage to Gauguin" contains a selfby CNBportrait of the artist in the lower left corner. color.