THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 19, 1995 TAG: 9501180163
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
``I WANT TO BE ME . . . ''
Sinatra says it in song, Pat Deady Bohan in her art.
``I don't want to be associated with any person or school of art,'' she says. ``I want to be me.''
It works.
Bohan, who will participate in Nansemond-Suffolk Academy's Art Show and Sale Feb. 5-12, has shelves filled with trophies and ribbons, recognitions for her creations.
The most prestigious is the 1994 Virginia Watercolor Society's Kemper A. Dobbins Award.
``It's equivalent to second place in this statewide competition. Most of my awards are from Virginia,'' she said, adding she ventures no further, ``because I'm not hungry enough.''
Bohan, 61, concentrates on transparent watercolors.
``I always loved the way it looks. You can see the paper. It's transparent,'' she said. ``The light bounces back from the paper and gives it a wonderful luminosity.''
Bohan, who divides her time between painting and teaching, has a B.A. in Studio Art from Queens College in Charlotte.
She studied watercoloring with several well-known artists including Robert Burnell of Portsmouth.
``More than 20 years ago I saw paintings by him and I was fascinated with the luminosity of his big, bold color, and his subject matter,'' Bohan said. ``He did a lot of landscapes, seascapes, buildings - a wide variety.
``I studied watercolor with him and took off from there,'' she said - ``taking off'' in time to develop a personal style.
``It became easier for me to get away from things like landscapes,'' Bohan said. ``I do some abstracts but I'm heavy into still life.''
She is seldom still, usually painting every week.
``If I'm really into it, I paint three to five hours a day,'' Bohan said. ``Then, I'll put it away, look at it later and make adustments. A lot of thinking - less painting.''
A lot of painting is done on commission - mostly houses.
``I always go to the site and take a lot of photographs,'' Bohan said. ``If I can - usually in the spring or fall - I stay at the site and paint.''
Painting flowers is also a favorite way to spend her creative time.
``I pull 'em out of the yard, set `em up, paint `em,'' Bohan said. ``If there are no flowers in the yard, there's always a florist nearby.''
She and her husband, Herman, a retired NASA aeronautical engineer, live on Laurel Lane.
Pat works in an art book-filled upstairs studio overlooking Sleepy Lake.
She further pursues her favorite subject as a member of the Suffolk Art League, and the Brush and Palette Club. She is on the Board of Directors of the Isle of Wight Art League, and is a member of the Virginia Watercolor Society.
Some of Bohan's work is on display at the Island Art Gallery of The Christmas Shop in Manteo, N.C., and the Collage Gallery and Studio in Smithfield. She has also exhibited with The Elizabeth River Artists.
She is a member of two bridge clubs and one garden club, is an elder at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church ``and,'' she notes, ``I'm very family-oriented.''
The Bohans dote on three daughters and twin grandsons.
``I just fell into art, I always did it,'' said Bohan, whose father was a commercial artist and, later, vice president of an advertising agency in Roanoke.
She grew up in that city and taught school there.
``Pat is always trying to promote the arts,'' according to an admirer-friend, Carolyn Mason Taylor of Smithfield. ``Her talent for transparent watercolors cannot be topped by anyone in Virginia.'' MEMO: The 7th annual Nansemond-Suffolk Academy Art Show and Sale, featuring
700 works of art, will be Feb. 5-12. An opening reception, featuring
many of the artists, will be from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 5. Weekday
hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday hours are 1 to 5 p.m.
For more information, call 255-0601 or 539-8789.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Pat Bohan concentrates on transparent watercolors in her Crittenden
studio. She has won numerous awards, including the prestigious 1994
Virginia Watercolor Society's Kemper A. Dobbins Award.
by CNB