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Alisonn
Zorba of Willington, Connecticut
has had a life-long love of
animals and art. Primarily
self-taught, she had exceptional
mentoring from high school
instructors Nora Addy Drake and
Robert DeVoe and a year at
Boston Museum School of Fine
Arts. She was inspired to
emulate the vibrant and
realistic pastel portraiture of
family friend, Doris Bryant of
Sharon, Massachusetts. Horses
were the main focus of attention
in her early work but gradually
she turned her hand to dogs. One of Zorba’s pastels of a
Yorkshire Terrier was the first
artist’s work in more than a
half- century on the cover of
the American Kennel Gazette
(December 1982). Another, this a
portrait of a Morgan Horse,
spent a year in the office of
the Governor of the State of
Connecticut and now hangs in the
foyer of the new Horse Arena at
the University of Connecticut. Though primarily working in
pastels, she has done many
canine breed studies in pen and
ink ~ many used by Farmington
Valley Kennel Club for covers
for their award-winning club
publications. A special logo
design for the Farmington club’s
50th Anniversary show (seen in
Gazette November 1990) again
brought her to the attention of
the Gazette staff and she was
invited to submit pen and ink
studies for the Gazette breed
columns for July and August
1991. Further, submission of
that published work for
competition in illustration, the
Dog Writer’s Association of
America awarded her a Maxwell
Medallion for the work. In the fall of 1997 a friend
suggested entering Dog Fancier’s
Club’s 10th Annual Art
Competition. A prestigious jury
panel comprising representatives
of Christie’s in New York City,
the Spanierman Gallery, New
York, and the Board of the
American Kennel Club awarded
both her pastel study of a
Whippet full-figure and an oil
painting of a brace of Borzoi
heads first places in their
respective categories. In more
recent competitions she has
garnered a second place with an
oil painting of Pugs and another
first place for a pastel of a
pair of Jack Russell Terriers.
The Zorba family has owned and
operated Zenny’s Restaurant,
Inc. in Storrs, Connecticut
since 1980. Alisonn, has had
dogs all her life, English and
Irish Setters, Cocker Spaniels,
a Jack Russell Terrier and
Miniature Schnauzers and earlier
in her life, cats and a horse.
Having wandered the dog show
scene shooting candids for her
work, one day she decided to try
having a showdog of her own-
acquired a Welsh Springer
Spaniel bitch, Bonnie, and,
doing her own training, handling
and grooming, finished Bonnie’s
championship, trained for
therapy visiting and qualified
with Delta Society, and then
discovered agility competition.
Her Bonnie has achieved her AKC
agility title Master Excellent (MX)
and became the first Welsh
Springer Spaniel to achieve a
Master Jumper with Weaves (MXJ)
as well as becoming Top Welsh
Springer Spaniel in AKC Agility
for 2003. Alisonn also has
competed with her second Welsh
Springer Spaniel, Duncan, the
first PAX Welsh Springer, now
retired from agility, and, until
his passing, an older gentleman
Cocker Spaniel, Beaukin, in the
New England area. There is now a
new member of the Zorba family, a Cavalier King
Charles Spaniel boy, Tizzy, Ch.
Wellington Wicked Good, who,
following in the pawprints of
his elders, has attained titles
in AKC agility and rally and
obedience. He has also become
the model for assorted art that
now is expanding to the other
colors in addition to Blenheim
in the Cavalier world.
Examples of her work in pastel
are occasionally on display at
The William Secord Gallery in
New York City, New York. |
