| Issue #1 - March 30, 2007 |
Art Commentary With Marion Wolberg Weiss
ARTIST COUPLES: MARY ANTCZAK AND BILL KIRIAZIS
Part 1
Despite the rather cold climate outside, Mary Antczak and Bill Kiriazis’
home in Springs is cozy, comfortable and cheerful, with Ms. Antczak’s
colorful abstractions hugging the white walls. The high ceilings added
to both the jaunty ambience and the lively conversation.
There’s a healthy down-to-earth quality about the couple, who
have been married for over twenty years. The word “earth”
seems particularly appropriate in describing not only their demeanors,
but their art as well. Consider Mr. Kiriazis’ dedication to his
Greek roots and its manifestation in his photographic installations.
Ms. Antczak’s paintings reflect foreign soils she has visited,
which have impacted her use of colors and shapes.
The couple’s attachment to the environment and its connection
to their art is not the only similarity that they share. They are both
longtime art instructors – Ms. Antczak teaches at East Hampton
High School and Mr. Kiriazis teaches Art History at Suffolk Community
College. In fact, they initially met as graduate students at Parson’s
Bank Street College.
And they both love to cook. Ms. Antczak says of her husband, “Bill
tends to follow recipes – I don’t. I’ll always come
into the kitchen and say, ‘Did you add this? Did you add that?’”
Of course, they both love to travel. Their trips contribute to their
artwork and their knowledge of people. The latter experience is obvious,
considering their work with young people and their own outgoing and
gracious manner. “I was part of the master swim program at the
Recreation Center in East Hampton and the teacher organized a trip to
Shanghai and Beijing,” Mr. Kiriazis recalls, “It was spectacular
to see both the cityscapes and the landscapes.”
The pair also travel to Rhodes in Greece every few years to visit Mr.
Kiriazis’ family and they have also made trips to France. Ms.
Antczak notes that she used to end up vacationing in Iceland when she
was younger because of the inexpensive flights that were available.
The most fascinating commonality that the couple shares is their art,
which, at first glance, seems quite different. While Ms. Antczak says
her palette incorporates colors from countries she has visited (reds
and blues from China, ochre from Greece), there are more formal ways
that she mirrors some of her husband’s artistic themes. Her repetition
of shapes (like small squares ) and the rhythm that it establishes remind
this critic of Mr. Kiriazis’ recurrent photographic forms in his
installation last November at Ashawagh Hall, “Ancestor Worship.”
The process that Ms. Antczak describes about her own pieces somehow
recalls the installation’s ebb and flow, as she works on more
than one painting at a time, seeing the individual endeavors as a whole
and perceiving the single compositions as one entity. This sounds like
Ms. Antczak almost creates installations, like her husband, whether
she knows it or not.
What this couple does know for sure is that they value their similarities
and also the encouragement they get from one another. The suggestions
they give to each other for improvement sound too good to be true, but
true they are (like offering positive comments first) or saying, “The
piece has potential.” No doubt they’ve learned the art of
criticism from their teaching experiences.
Even so, every day seems like a day filled with different experiences
for this couple to savor and save.
Ms. Antczak’s work will be on view at the Art Cellar from March
31 - May 17. (25 Hampton Road, Southampton. Tel: 631- 259-2313. )
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