Just out., September 21, 2001, Page 47, Image 47

_________ ÊêptÊmhÊf 21.2001 * J U t OUt 4 y
ART
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C
Carving a new niche
|
Brown rolls her
% eyes at her lover’s
continued reluc­
tance to part with
her babies. “We still
have 26 woodcarv-
ings in the living
room,” she notes.
Smolensky admits:
“There isn’t a thing in the world 1
“I have to decide
want to do other than my work.”
before 1 do it whether
Smolensky buys slabs of wood
it’s for sale. T hen I
from a retired logger, and she has a
can’t sell it until I am
lot of it curing in her bam. “1 live
ready to replace it.”
with [a piece of wood] first before 1
All of this can take
decide what to do with it,” she
a while. “1 fall in love
reveals, closing her eyes and
with each piece,” she
sm oothing her fingers over a piece
croons.
of imaginary wood. “I have to
Sm olensky shows
decide when it’s right for me to
me h er all-tim e
begin. [The wood] tells me what it
favorite, a bas-relief
wants to be. It speaks to me.”
called “Sisters.” It
Most of her figures are derived
Patrice
depicts two nude
from female forms or faces. Many are
w
om
en
w
ho
are
hugging,
face to face, breast
somewhat realistic with an abstract flair, and
to breast, th e way lesbians do. A gain, her
some are entirely abstract, reminiscent of
fingers caress th e w alnut bodies.
Henry Moore. “You have to be able to make
Smolensky has shown her sculptures at
realistic features first,” she tells me, “then you
galleries in New York, California, Florida and
can elongate, twist, play with the style.”
Illinois. In Portland she has a piece at In Her
Smolensky also has worked with clay, stone
Image Gallery.
and metal but enjoys the warmth of wood. She
You can view other photos of her work
has tried many different kinds but prefers the
online at www.josestrings.com. T h en you can
challenge of walnut, a very hard wood.
start begging her to sell one to you! J H
“I love the discipline," she explains. “If you
make a mistake, you’re out of it.”
H E R O N is a Portland artist and free-lance writer.
To carve the small
pieces, Smolensky uses a
wood mallet, chisels, rasps,
files— hand tools only.
“I started that way
and just work best
with those old
favorites,” she says.
She spends one to four
months on the large
20-inch pieces and a few
weeks on the smaller
ones.
It was Brown who
noticed that the living room
was getting full of carvings
and that the bam was full of
wood slabs. T hat’s when she
suggested, “Why don’t we sell
some of this stuff?'
Although Smolensky loves
each piece like a mother loves
her child, she agreed
that the wood was tak­
These days
ing over their space.
José Smolensky
“W e’ll see,” she told
conducts with
her partner.
chisels and rasps
It’s never too late to follow your heart’s desire
by
“ Sisters”
ose Smolensky is passionate about wood.
She has brought along several of her sculp­
tures, as smixith and sensuous as a womans
btxiy. She runs her fingers over the wood,
experiencing the grain, the shapes, the texture.
As she unfolds her life’s story at my kitchen
table, her fingers lovingly trace the curves she
has carved in the smooth, finished walnut.
This wcxxkarver started out as a musician.
She was bom in 1929 in New York to Jewish
immigrants.
Her father immigrated to the U nited
States from Smolensky, Russia, and her m oth­
er came from Poland. “I always wanted to be
an artist," she says, “but my father wanted me
to be a musician.”
In those days, the Bronx was a Jewish ghet­
to, and immigrants kept the old ways. “The
first child in a Jewish family played piano,”
Smolensky explains, “so my sister is a pianist.
Tradition required the second child to play the
violin. There could be no brass instruments, no
percussion— tixi noisy. It had to be a violin.”
Never mind that Smolensky didn’t want to
play violin. But she adored her father and was
eager to please him. “There was never a
choice.”
Back then girls were discouraged from being
artists. “Dad didn’t approve of nudes, not for
girls. Art was not considered a decent profes­
sion, not for a female.”
Smolensky remembers her father’s collec­
tion of wtxxlcarvings in their home, but she
never attempted any herself in those days. So
out of love and obligation she did what was
expected of her: She practiced her violin and
got really gtxxl at it— so gcxxl that she won a
partial scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard
Schixd of Music.
J
H eron
“There was no way I could turn down a
scholarship to Juilliard,” she recalls. She went
on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in
music education.
A t the same time Smolensky got married
and had four children. A divorce and more
degrees followed, including a doctorate from
U nited States International University in
San Diego.
She wound up teaching music in all kinds
of schools in many states. As a single mother
struggling to support her two boys and two
girls, she was forced to go where the jobs were.
Smolensky supplemented her earnings by
playing in symphonies. “I played in Liberace’s
band and Judy Garland’s band,” she recalls.
Through it all, she still wanted to be an
artist. “1 loved my music, but I always had a
piece of wtxxl in my pocket when I took my
children to the park or to the library.”
Smolensky retired four years ago at age 70
w ith a nice pension. T h a t’s when she finally
decided to become the artist she always
w anted to be.
These days she and Pat Brown, her partner
of 20 years, live in rural Oregon
on four acres in an old
farmhouse with dogs, cats,
chicken and geese. “Well,
not really,” Brown corrects.
“A fox ate the geese, all
but one.”
Brown, a retired nurse,
helps Smolensky with her
artwork. Although she is
not a carver, she stains the
pieces and helps sell them
online.
“She’s a very tough
'4
boss,” Brown laughs. “And
there’s no Ofrrah in the
afternoon."
A t this point in her life,
Smolensky is making up for
lost time. “1 carve five hours
a day,” she tells me. “I
always had three jobs; now,
carving is my job."
She has created
a workshop in the
farmhouse attic and
loves being there.
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