THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602200099
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: JODY R. SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
MANY PEOPLE SEE second-hand furniture as an eyesore, not suitable for upscale homes.
Not Smithfield artist Jeanine Dionne.
Dionne sees castaway furniture as a chance to re-create art that will be cherished and passed on from generation to generation.
``In the age of recycling, you're not getting rid of old stuff, you're transforming it into something new,'' Dionne says. ``This is one way to take a less-than-nice piece and turn it into something really nice.''
So for the past five years, Dionne has been doing just that.
Clients commission her to take their scuffed and battered furniture and create show pieces for their homes.
``The piece determines the design. I go to peoples' homes to see how a room is decorated, and then I design a piece to fit that room.
`` . . . If a piece of furniture is primitive in design, then it gets painted in a primitive style.''
For example, Dionne has painted fox hunts that dash across tables tops, tea cups that wind around a two-tier table and flowers that skim a desk top.
The concept of painting old furniture came to Dionne after she painted a floral design on a bed headboard in her own home five years ago.
``I got so many compliments on the few pieces I had done for myself that I thought there might be a market out there.''
Before then, while Dionne and her husband, Craig Coonrod, were living in Chepachet, R.I., the two had been producing a line of two-dimensional decorating accessories that sold in 200 stores nationwide and several mail-order catalogs. The line included painted wood items that Coonrod made and Dionne painted.
That work ended after they moved to Smithfield and Coonrod became curator at the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News.
But Dionne continues her own art, applying it to other people's furnishings.
``The satisfying part for me is to see a piece that is less than nice turned into something that will be passed on.'' MEMO: [For a related story, also see page 6 of The Citizen for this date.]
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Smithfield artist Jeanine Dionne works on a cabinet with a
checkerboard front.
Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Jeanine Dionne finishes a table she painted for a customer. The
trays feature teacups and types of tea.
by CNB