Jersey artist earns reputation for "crisp, evocative pastels" (09/20/98)

Jersey artist earns reputation for "crisp, evocative pastels"

by Camilia Huk

RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Graduating with a fine arts degree from New York University, Christine Holowchak Debarry happily devoted the years after college to her family, while studying at the Art Students League and with private teachers. But the tragic and untimely death of her husband, Gerhard, suddenly left her widowed with two small daughters, Larissa and Tania.

She sought solace in her children and in her talent. Her early work - woodcuts - reflected her deep sorrow. The woodcut "Mother," for example, a portrait of a Ukrainian woman, bowed by grief, was a familiar favorite of many. Lonely figures, studies of solitary objects in stark black and white, marked this period in her life.

Perhaps it was as Mrs. Holowchak Debarry watched her daughters bloom into beautiful young women that her palette once again took on life's magic hues.

Today, she is featured in the September issue of American Artist, where she is credited with a "reputation for creating crisp, evocative pastels," which she herself describes as "woven color," or as "bits of color showing through other bits of color."

Warm yellows and blues flow through her pastel and watercolor "Hunter Mountain," creating a dreamy impressionist landscape. Equally pleasing is her depiction of a more unconventional subject, "Returning Home," in which the welcoming golden hues of a morning sky brighten the way for a rather dark propane truck.

This unique painting also graces the cover of Paselagram (fall/winter 1998), the magazine of the Pastel Society of America. In sharp contrast, the American Artist article features a copy of "Snapdragons", a light pastel of salmon and cream buds.

Mrs. Holowchak Debarry has distinguished herself also as the president of the Pastel Society of America (PSA) and as a board member of the Artists Fellowship. She is also a board member of The Allied Artists of America, and an elected member of the Salmagundi Club, the Catharine Loriliard Wolfe Art Club and the American Artists Professional League.

She has conducted workshops internationally - recently having returned from an invitational program in China, in Xi'an and Nanchang, in November 1997 and from the Flying Colors Workshop in Acapulco, Mexico, in March of this year.

In September she will conduct a PSA workshop at the National Fine Arts Club. A second workshop in Acapulco is planned for early 1999, to be followed by the Lac Magentic Pastel Workshop in Quebec in April 1999.

She has been invited to present her pastel painting technique at the Northern Michigan Workshops, in Venice and other regions of Italy in 1999.

Mrs. Holowchak Debarry is a member of Branch 18 of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America. She has also exhibited her works at The Ukrainian Museum, the Ukrainian Artists Association gallery in New York and at Soyuzivka.

Her work will be exhibited at the Johnson Galleries, housed in the Somerset Art Association building in Bedminster, N.J., during the month of October.

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