Dona McCloskey of Minerva and Catherine Kendrick of Highlandtown have joined the Market Street Art Spot in Minerva as resident artists.
McCloskey, originally of Salineville, studied fine art at Youngstown University before her marriage to Charles "Bob" McCloskey in 1962. Settling in Minerva, where Bob worked at PCC, the couple raised three sons and operated a restaurant, McCloskey's Village Place, until 1992. From that time until 2006, Dona managed the Canton Woman's Club.
Dona works in watercolors, painting landscapes and abstracts, and said, "I like the way the watercolors flow. It seems so natural. Watercolors can be vibrant and bold or soft and sensual, creating excitement and movement on paper."
Having not painted a great deal since Bob's death from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a fatal lung disease, in 2011, Dona said she is currently moving toward more abstract paintings.
"It's more freeing," she said of abstract painting. "At this time in my life, my life seems more abstract."
Dona is currently taking a class at Malone University and believes being with the other resident artists at the Art Spot will encourage her to paint more.
"Everyone down there is just neat," she said of the other Art Spot artists. "I love them all in different ways. Everybody's so positive."
The Art Spot, she said, is a "wonderful thing" for Minerva, and she was honored to be invited to be a resident artist.
"It's a great opportunity," Dona said. "I didn't have to think very long."
Dona has a long-standing commitment to working with and learning from other artists, applying new techniques to her work and always challenging and stretching herself.
She has studied with area artists Rudy Amatangelo and Nancy Stewart Matin, as well as world-renowned artists Cheng-Khee Chee and Helga Flower, whom she travels to Michigan to work with annually.
"Being around other artists is something you need to do as an artist," she said.
Kendrick, who is originally from Pittsburgh, first picked up a paintbrush one and one-half years ago. In constant pain from an undiagnosed broken neck from a car accident two and one-half years ago and with a neck brace limiting her activities, she decided to try painting and found the small movements required did not cause her neck to hurt and also distracted her from her discomfort.
After painting on her own for three months, she started working with Bill Koch at the Tuscarawas County Center for the Arts, who taught her color theory and encouraged her to participate in shows.
At her first show in Steubenville, she took Best of Show, and she was named Up and Coming Artist at the Oglebay Institute's Stifel Fine Arts Center; however, she admits to still feeling a sense of surprise at her newly discovered artistic talent.
"I feel like I'm on the Gong Show half the time, and I'm going to be gonged out," said Kendrick, who worked as a country-club marketing manager, farmed, and had her own website-hosting and design business, prior to her accident.
While oil is her preferred medium, Kendrick also works in watercolor, acrylics and charcoal.
"I work in anything I can pick up and use to put a mark on paper," she said.
Her subject matter is diverse and drawn from her "artistic reference material," or scenes and objects she knows and loves. She paints animals, landscapes with water, and Tuscan scenes, and has recently been exploring Southwestern themes and colors.
Kendrick has a disciplined approach to her artwork, completing a painting every day. She does a small, quick painting every morning, then works on a larger work in which she is likely to be studying a new technique, and then paints a still life.
Searching for a gallery to exhibit her work in, Kendrick found the Art Spot online. She already knew she liked the area, having previously lived in Kensington, and she visited and liked the other artists' work.
She found a good fit in the Art Spot and the mentality of the other resident artists, she said.
"They've been real sweet and they're really what I want to be," she said. "They're more for the community; they're more for getting people involved in the arts."
McCloskey's and Kendrick's work, along with that of the other resident artists, Marty Chapman, Michelle Mulligan, Laura Donnelly, and Joan Henninger, will be featured at the Art Spot's first anniversary celebration on Friday, Feb. 10, 5-9 p.m.
The Market Street Art Spot is located at 219 N. Market St., and is open Thursday-Saturday, 1-6 p.m.
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