by Sam Joslin Mueller
Visitors to the Artists’ League of Big Bend’s (ALBB) Summer Annual exhibition at Tallahassee State College will find one of Bev Sipos’ favorite subjects hanging on the gallery wall: her daughter.
The pastel portrait in ALBB’s Summer Annual, “Jumping for Joy! Reflecting Light in Dark Times,” captures a quiet moment of movement as Sipos’ daughter dances.
“She’s always been my favorite model,” Sipos told me as she walked me through her lovely home/studio where artwork by herself and other artists covers the walls – including countless portraits she’s done of her daughter over the years.Sipos’ entire home is set up with the intention of steady access to artistic creation.
She has two easels with in-progress artwork set up in her living room, boxes of pastels laid out and organized by color, reference photos pinned up and neatly stored in filing cabinets nearby, her own matting/framing shop in her garage, and of course a comfortable spot nestled amongst it all for her adorable standard poodle, Cooper. “If I see my work, I work on my work,” she says.
An artistic practice has always been part of what defines Sipos’ and the way she moves through life. Growing up in Denton, Texas, surrounded by two major universities, she knew she wanted to pursue art professionally and applied to (and was accepted to) just one college solely because of its strong art program: The University of Illinois.
It was there, in 1962, that she met her husband Les, after he walked up to her in the student union and asked what time it was. “Life has these funny little coincidences,” she reflected, noting the similarities between how she met Les and how her daughter later met her own husband.
Read more on the Tallahassee Democrat.
English
English
French
German
Italian
Spanish
