The Gloria Cachion Gallery at the Southbury Public Library will showcase the art of Lee Skalkos, Pastel Artist, Metalsmith from Tuesday, April 4, 2023 through Thursday, April 27, 2023.
Lee Skalkos considers herself primarily a metalsmith and is a certified art teacher in Connecticut grades K-12. She has been featured in ten national magazines, featured on HGTV, and was national Entrepreneur of the Year with Victoria Magazine for her metal work. Lee’s students at Joel Barlow High School were honored with 45 statewide gold metals, 18 silvers, and 5 national titles. Lee took a middle school teaching position when she lost her 13 year position at her beloved high school because of budget cuts. Fate would have it as it was in this new school that Lee found chalk pastels in her school art closet. After experimentation with this brand new medium she became immediately hooked on pastels. Lee now considers herself a pastel artist and in one short year has shown her work in many different shows in CT and has had three one woman shows this year. When not teaching art at her new position in Woodbury, or creating pastels Lee is working in her metals studio in Newtown, CT where she also teaches young students after school, weekends and during the summer the fine art of metalsmithing.
Artist’s Statement:
As a teacher, I know before I teach a subject, I teach the children who I am. Therefore I must be aware of how I think of myself and how I represent myself. I do not wish to be viewed as an art expert, or a person who definitively knows if an artwork is good or significant, instead I consider myself a skilled and enthusiastic teacher who promotes students’ critical thinking and creating. Art education should focus on children’s ideas because their experiences must be valued and built upon. In this way, art lessons can be not only successful, but relevant. I consider myself a teacher, a metalsmith, and most recently, a pastel painter. I have practiced some form of art my whole life. Pastels have now consumed me, taking over my thoughts, how I see, and even how I dream. I deeply understand the power, complexity, relief, and inner joy which comes from painting.
This year Lee was presented with the National Endowment for Humanities Fellowship to visit and learn about the Battle of the Little Bighorn and she was one of 104 teachers statewide selected for the Funds for Teachers Fellowship.
The exhibit will be open during regular library hours which are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:30am to 5:30pm, Tuesday and Thursday 9:30am to 9:00pm, Saturdays 9:30am to 4:00pm and Sundays 12:00pm to 5:00pm. The exhibit will also be online too as a virtual gallery.
Please visit us at www.southburylibrary.org to view this exhibit virtually and for any updated hours and information. Or you may call us at 203-262-0626.
Lee’s Bio: https://www.southburylibrary.org/using-the-library/spaces/art-gallery
The full gallery: https://www.southburylibrary.org/gallery
