A link to the pastel: Russian artist leaves impression in Destin

After growing up in war-torn and impoverished Ukraine during the tumultuous times of World War II, Anatoly Dverin finally has life down to a fine art.

The former Soviet-turned-American Impressionist has come along way since he landed at JFK airport on June 6, 1976 with his wife, teenage daughter, $200 and not a word of English to his name to begin a new life full of opportunities in the U.S.

This week, the members of the Pastel Society of North Florida were inspired by Dverin’s teachings at a week-long pastels workshop at Beverly McNeil Gallery in Destin.

“It’s very intimidating working with someone that’s famous when you’re staring at a blank piece of paper,” Jacquelyn Ifland, a Pastel Society member from Mary Esther, said. “(But) it’s been wonderful.”

Ifland and other members of the national organization for pastel enthusiasts were privied to Dverin’s instruction to kick-off the Tenth Biennial National Exhibition. The free month-long exhibition at the Holzhauer Gallery at Northwest Florida State College begins on Sunday, Sept. 7 and will showcase original pastels.

Drawing his artistic talent from his father, Boris, Dverin began drawing at the age of six when he became “mesmerized” by this father’s ability to copy exact images from a postcard.

Many years later, Dverin’s determination to become as talented as his father turned into his own undefined technique of drawing and painting imagery, which has made him a “very nice living” since he arrived in the U.S.

Dverin’s salary as an artist has grown from the $195 he made each week at his first American job as an illustrator for Rust Craft Greeting Card Company to his works selling for anywhere from $5,000 to $14,000 in fourteen galleries all over the country.

It was his love and talent for the pastel medium that landed him the title of Distinguished Pastelist of the Pastel Society of North Florida.

Often misunderstood, pastel is a drawing and painting medium. All colors are used in the form of a what appears to be chalk, but is not chalk.

The same pigments that are used to color all other traditional fine art paints are used to make pastel.

Pastel takes on its chalky appearance by mixing powder pigment with water and a binder to make a paste. The paste is rolled into sticks and allowed to dry.

Specially textured paper, some feeling like sandpaper, is used to grab the color.

“The method behind pastels is to get it in those grooves so it doesn’t shake off (the page),” V-Ann Brown, a Ft. Walton Beach resident attending the workshop, said.

The value in the ability to create pastel art is evident in their present day selling price, the joy it brings to amateurs and in the fact that Dverin left his dictatorship country so that he could freely own his own work.

“They wanted me to buy my paintings from them,” Dverin said in his thick Russian accent. “If my painting was worth 500 rubles, they wanted me to pay 500 rubles to have it.”

For more information about the Pastel Society of North Florida’s Tenth Biennial National Exhibition, visit www.mattiekellyartscenter.org. For more on Anatoly Dverin, visit www.4anatoly.com.

Want to go?
The Pastel Society of North Florida’s Tenth Biennial National Exhibition will begin on Sunday, Sept. 7, at the Holzhauer Gallery at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville. Exhibits will be available Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.