ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 2, 1997 TAG: 9704020005
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: FLOYD
SOURCE: MARGARET BROWN THE ROANOKE TIMES
Crazy-quilting tradition given a new twist by Floyd woman.
Kanta, an artist who lives in Floyd County, revels in contrasts, both in her art and in her life.
One of her earliest drawings at age 5 showed the sun side by side with the moon. "I loved putting symbols together even then," she says.
She creates one-of-a-kind pieces of clothing, what she calls "wearable art." She's also a painter and jewelry-maker.
Her cabin is crammed with colorful coats and vests, some with matching crocheted hats. They're often adorned with symbols: lightning bolts, crosses, clouds dripping water as a symbol of abundance, the Egyptian ankh, the yin-yang and hearts.
Her wearable art is striking, innovative. Each piece is a mosaic of complementary colors that together evoke a mood, a culture or a place. She uses textures together such as fur, crinkly leather-like fabrics, smooth and nubby silks, and cotton; she decorates with sea shells, shell buttons, yarn and ribbon, sometimes adding words and symbols.
Yet she works in the old Appalachian tradition of crazy quilting. Cast-off clothing such as an old lamb's wool coat from the '50s or a man's suit jacket, minus sleeves and wide lapels, provides the basic shape. She then quilts them with snippets of interesting fabrics - some new, some old, the latter bought by the pound from Schoolhouse Fabrics in Floyd.
"Quilters are the ultimate recyclers," she says with a smile.
Kanta runs her own business, puts together her own shows, owns several computers, and, like any businesswoman, speaks knowledgeably of the demands of her clients.
"I have to make clothing that is flattering to most people," she says. "I have to be respectful of who my client is."
A lot of her wearable art has a palette of blues and purples. "Those are colors that look good on almost anyone." And her clothing is comfortable, too. Loose vests. Coats that swing free. Stoles that drape over any shape. Short dresses with wide skirts.
Like the director of marketing in any business, she has noticed what's happened as the baby boomers have begun to age. She's a boomer, too, at 46.
"I think the prevailing mood is wildness," she says. "Not irresponsibility or recklessness, but wildness in terms of expressing our gifts, led by an inner guidance. Women have always been brighter, more expressive, and wilder about their clothing choices."
She whips out a long quilted black unfitted vest with an Oriental feeling about it. Satins and silks in black, gray, purple and white. Leather-like grays and yellow silk meander across it, front and back. It's bold, strong, square shape, softened by splashes of pink and a teal binding. Great over black silk pants or a long black satin skirt.
"It's for parties, for evening," Kanta says as she runs her fingers over the satin. "I love the wildness, the melange of textures, of color."
She flips the vest inside out to reveal a black sun - ``for infinite possibilities'' - the only adornment, high up on the back of the now-plain vest. Reversible. Of course.
"My clients have jobs. They have to go to the grocery store. They have a life in the world," she says of the plain side. "They want their clothing to be expressive, but not too much."
Yet for the past 12 years, this practical woman has lived with her husband, Murray Bosniak, and their teen-age son, Josh, in a one-room cabin expanded to include a huge workshop for her. At the end of a muddy, rut-filled road near Pilot, surrounded by their 23 acres, it comes with a wood-burning stove, an outhouse and well water.
"At first, we didn't have electricity," she says softly. "I nearly went crazy, because I couldn't use my sewing machine."
But a new friend and neighbor, Beatrice Mills (who now lives in Christiansburg), introduced her to the Appalachian art of crazy quilting. Some might call it serendipity, an unexpected discovery. Kanta is used to things like that happening to her.
The art school she applied to after she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania lost her portfolio.
"At the time, I thought it was a huge tragedy," she says. "They eventually found my portfolio, but it was too late. They admitted me, but they wanted me to wait a year before enrolling."
She shrugs.
"I didn't want to wait, so I settled for commercial art at Drexel University," she says. "I was in interior design, but you had to paint, draw, study composition and work in textiles."
"Once I hit painting and weaving at Drexel, I was hooked. I was gone. I'd go into the studio and wouldn't come out for hours," she says.
She credits Drexel with allowing her to blossom as a painter and pushing her to be professional. "I learned not to be grandiose about my art, to do a good job and to finish something. I developed a workmanlike attitude toward art."
Her life also is full of irony. She smiles at the thought that she has returned to Western Virginia. Although she was born in Philadelphia, her family moved to Roanoke when she was an infant, and her father worked in the admissions office at Roanoke College.
"But being a professional artist just wasn't done," she says. "Growing up when I did, I had two models of women: Barbara Billingsley's June Cleaver in `Leave It To Beaver' who wore shirtwaist dresses, high heels, and always had a plate of cookies for her family, and Eve Arden's `Our Miss Brooks,' a single working woman, tough and mannish."
She says it took her a long time to realize the possibilities in her life.
"At first, I was out in the business world and did art on the side," she says. "I was in retail management, and then I was a domestic goddess for a while."
She smiles. "I perfected the pie."
Then her energy shifted back to her art.
"I know the perception of artists is that they're nuts," she says. "But now that I'm older and wiser, I have given myself permission to have a professional life. I've realized that it's a valid, reasonable thing to do."
She is very active professionally. She's a member of the Heaven and Earth Alliance, a group of artists from Roanoke and the New River Valley. She's had shows in churches, galleries and museums. Several churches own stoles that can be displayed like banners. "My Favorite Gardener" - about Jesus, complete with gardening gloves - is owned by Glade Baptist Church in Blacksburg, which also owns "The Power Moment is Now," about doing things immediately. "Love Is My Shield" is displayed in Zion Lutheran Church in Floyd, and "Love Is The Building Block" is in the Blacksburg Community for Spiritual Living.
Kanta is more than content with her life. She's happy.
"When my husband took early retirement from the Philadelphia school system, we began looking for a place to live. I always wanted an upbringing for Josh that was safe, healthy and full of beauty. Friends suggested this property, and, after I saw it, I didn't want to go home."
Another irony is her upcoming show, "Madonna: The Face of Love," in April at The Booksmith, 212 Draper Road in downtown Blacksburg. The store will host an open house from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Kanta is returning to painted Madonnas on wood, like some that were in her portfolio the art school lost so many years ago. She'll be working with Doc Kennedy ("His Madonnas are reminiscent of ancient paintings," she says) and Alex Wind ("She does wonderful collages," she says).
She's busy working on her contributions to the show. Her finished Madonnas look modern but with a traditional root - "sort of like Gauguin," she says.
Like the so-called "black Madonnas," the Russian orthodox icons, they stare out from dark backgrounds. They have elongated necks and a soothing serenity. One prototype is enshrined, placed in an old picture frame, then draped with a scarf that can be worn.
The riot of projects surrounding her in her workroom suggests that Kanta is a woman who doesn't sit still easily, who likes to be doing something with her hands all the time.
Her artist's touch is everywhere in the cabin, from the crocheted cap her son wore when he was tiny - it now hangs on the wall - to her necklaces decorated with the leftovers from single earrings (the mates lost long ago), to pictures, pottery, and ceramic masks she's gotten in trades with other artists.
From the neat clutter of her cabin, she says, "It's a wonderful time. I'm happy to age. Every year gets better. I feel more empowered to experience who I am. I care less and less about what other people think."
The artist Kanta will have an opening of her new show, "Madonna: The Face of Love," from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Booksmith, 212 Draper Road in downtown Blacksburg.
LENGTH: Long : 157 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. DIANE PORTER-GOFF. Kanta's "Son/Sun" coat is mixedby CNBfiber and leather with button ornamentation. 2. GENE DALTON/THE
ROANOKE TIMES. Dressed in Kanta creations are Floyd County High
School students (from left) Emily Williamson, Alethea Shelton and
Jessie Boswell. The two hats are also made by the artist. 3. Kanta
wears one of her favorite jackets, with words of "The Lords Prayer"
on it. color.