This Month’s Honoree

Kathy Koneski

Kathy Koneski, our former, and sorely missed, Newsletter Manager, is a very talented artist and a much-valued volunteer for the Arizona Art Alliance.  Even when she faced very serious health challenges, she continued to take the time and help us keep the Alliance Newsletter going strong for the last five years. Kathy won a major award for her production of the Newsletters for the Valley of the Sun Arabian Horse Association, so she is a natural for the management/editorial knowledge that is needed.  “My goal was to create a newsletter that was not only informative but creative and interesting to read.”

She is a juried member of the Desert Artists and the Art Alliance.  She is a past member of the Colored Pencil Society of America, both National and Local, and was a member of the Mountain Artist Guild in Prescott. Her awards for her art in shows are quite impressive. Most of her works are colored pencil paintings and she has the patience, precision and planning techniques that are needed for outstanding accomplishments with that medium.   “I love the control colored pencil gives me but I have learned to respect it, as it can be a very unforgiving medium.”  She also works with oils, pen and ink and pencil.

Her career spans many fields, from Veterinary Assistant to Administrative Assistant in Engineering.  Kathy owned the Sera’s Moon Gallery in Carefree where she worked with many local artists.  She was born in Massachusetts, traveled extensively with her Navy family, was married in Florida and moved to Arizona where she lived in both Prescott and Phoenix.  Like many of us she discovered her passion for drawing at a very early age, is largely self-taught and has taken extensive courses in art in Massachusetts, California and Scottsdale and Yavapai County.

Kathy loves her wiener dogs and her horses!  Animals both wild and domestic are her main subjects of interest in her work.  “My style is not to produce a photo replica. I strive to evoke strong emotion in the viewer through the painting.  I always start with the eyes of the subject.  They have to talk to me or the drawing won’t work.”

Watch for Kathy’s art in coming shows and online.  I am sure we will still be calling on her for her expertise.

Previous Honorees