|
Alisonn Zorba, of Willington,
Connecticut, has had a life-long
love of animals and art.
Primarily self-taught, she had
exceptional mentoring from
artists 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 her early
work but gradually she turned
her hand to dogs.
Her pastel portrait 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). A pastel head
study 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 a
pastelist, she has done
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 (seen in
Gazette November 1990) once
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. Submission of
that published work for
competition in illustration, the
Dog Writer’s Association of
America, Inc. awarded her a
Maxwell Medallion.
In 1995 the William Secord
Gallery in New York City (dogpainting.com),
specializing in antique canine
fine art, invited her to show
her work along with eleven other
artists, opening for the
Westminster Kennel Club show
week in February entitled
“Contemporary Artists”. Work is
still on display there.
In the fall of 1997 a
friend suggested entering
Dog Fancier’s Club’s 10th Annual
Art Competition in New York
City. 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 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 two
Jack Russell Terriers.
Having wandered the dog show
scene, photographing candids for
her work, she decided to try
having a show dog of her own ~
acquired a Welsh Springer
Spaniel, and, doing her own
training, grooming and handling,
she finished Bonnie’s (Ch,.
Daytime Donatella MX, MXJ, CD,
RE) championship and then
discovered other activities.
They trained and qualified with
Delta Society doing therapy
visits in local hospitals and
nursing homes. With a Welsh
Springer nephew, Duncan (Daytime
Highlander, OA, AXJ, MXP3, MJP4,
CD, RE) and an older gentleman
Cocker Spaniel, Beaukin, (Sirius
Beauhemian AX, AXJ) on the team,
they have had great fun in AKC
agility holding records for the
first to achieve assorted
milestones for the Welsh
Springer breed, among them Top
Welsh Springer Spaniel in AKC
Agility for 2003. Joining the
family in 2007, a Cavalier King
Charles Spaniel boy, Tizzy, (Ch.
Wellington Wicked Good, MX, MXJ,
CD, RE) has followed in the
pawprints of his red and white
elders attaining titles in AKC
Agility, Rally and Obedience. He
has become the model for
assorted art that has expanded
to all the colors in the
Cavalier world.
More recently, Alisonn
spent a year on the kennel
staff of The Simon Foundation
animal shelter which deepened
her respect for the canine
species- the myriad mixes and
types and their ability to
rebound from neglect and sad
circumstance to offer love,
comfort and companionship anew.
At present, she can be found
several days a week at the Tails
U Win dog training center in
Manchester, Connecticut,
“keeping the peace” in the dog
daycare and evenings assisting
several of the fine instructors
in training classes, both of
which afford the opportunity for
experience with and study of
canine behavior and among whose
clientele are found many new and
wonderful subjects for art
creations.
|
