October 12, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mt. Airy teacher simply wants to ‘paint forever’
by LOU PERSEGHIN

Ilene Spiewak stands in front of an unfinished work in her Mt. Airy home studio. (Photo by Lou Perseghin)

In a sunlit studio in Mt. Airy, a collection of paintings in various stages of completion rests against the wall. The bright acrylic colors can be seen peeking out from the edges of some of the taller works; mottled reds and yellows hide behind the biggest draw to the eye: an as yet unnamed canvas dripping with blue paint.

“Some [paintings] take months, and some take several hours,” said Ilene Spiewak, the artist behind the home-stretched canvases leaning just beneath an easel. “I try not to go back and torture myself once I sign them,” she explained.

Many of the paintings resting against the wall are unsigned; the reds, yellows and blues are simply one of the many layers each of Spiewak’s paintings receive, a style she has developed using acrylic paints.

Since about age 11, Spiewak, now 53, has enjoyed painting.

“I was never a very expressive or articulate kid,” said Spiewak, “so drawing and painting kind of took care of that for me. Throughout my life I have painted, sometimes more than others. When my kids were young and I lived in Manhattan, I didn’t have a place to paint. If I wasn’t painting, I was thinking about it.”

On October 7 and 8, Spiewak opened her home studio as part of the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours (POST). Founded in 1999, POST gives many local artists a chance to show their work, as well as giving the public a chance to experience the large artistic community that exists in and around the city. Spiewak, who participated in POST for the first time, felt somewhat nervous before last weekend.

“I had two worries,” she explained. “One, that nobody would come, or that a lot of people would come and I would have to talk to all kinds of people I don’t know about my work, which is very personal.”

Despite the nervousness, Spiewak was excited to be a part of POST for the first time. She moved to Mt. Airy three years ago to get away from the suburbs of Bucks County and to find a place where she could meet other artists and develop her work.

“I think that most people who create,” she said, “create for an audience, and it would be nice to have one. I would like people to come and appreciate my work.”

Although Spiewak began painting with oils, she transitioned to acrylic paints because her supplies were put into storage three years ago when she moved to Mt. Airy.

“Since I didn’t have a place to paint,” explained Spiewak, “I decided to take a class at PAFA (Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts). I went out and got some basic acrylics, and now I prefer them over oils.”

Spiewak has developed a personal style with acrylics, utilizing layers of paint to bring out a fully realized painting. Her paintings are somewhat abstract, with lines of dripping paint crossing the canvas over the central image. She prefers painting on canvas, which she stretches on the frame herself.

“I always thought that once you put a mark down, it had to stay there,” said Spiewak. “Now I’m learning that it’s more of an under painting, what’s to come. It helps it become what it will.”

Spiewak has done some work with models, but prefers painting in still life, often getting inspiration from the colorful gladiolas or sunflowers she purchases from the Reading Terminal Market. In addition to using her home studio, she also paints in the studios at PAFA.

Spiewak has sold five or six of her still life paintings in the past few months, and has another exhibition at the High Point Café in Mt. Airy coming up next spring.

“It’s tough to put a value on something and then give it up,” said Spiewak about selling her work. “It’s an odd feeling; exciting in a way, but it’s hard to let some of them go. There are two that I regret giving up, but my son has one and my sister has the other.”

Spiewak, who teaches at the Mill Creek School, a therapeutic alternative high school in West Philadelphia, would love to be able to live off of her art. “It would be nice to be able to do this all the time; be able to paint and travel and sell my work,” she said. Though she said that she has trouble selling herself, as it feels a little unnatural, Spiewak’s passion is clearly in her work.

“I hope to just paint forever,” she said.

For more information about Spiewak’s work, e-mail ibsbjb@aol.com.