Introducing Catherine Slesarik

Hi everyone,

I had the pleasure of meeting teacher/poet/presenter Ken Slesarik in 2011 when he attended my first poetry workshop for the fine folks at Highlights Foundation. Uh, by the way, Ken has a sense of humor. Here’s a picture he provided after the workshop.

Ken and I have remained in contact and recently he began sharing with me occasional information about his talented artist daughter, Catherine Slesarik. Today is the day I want you to meet her too.

At my suggestion, Ken interviewed Catherine and together they selected a small sample of her work. One of the pictures is of a dragon so papa K pitched in a poem to accompany it. Without further ado, here is Catherine Slesarik with a special assist from her father.

Catherine Slesarik is an award winning artist and collage student from Arizona. She enjoys sharing her talents with people of all ages. An avid reader and science buff, Catherine plans to incorporate science in her work as a children’s illustrator to inspire girls and women everywhere.

Seven Questions for Catherine Slesarik

1. How did you first become interested in art?
I have always been an artist for as long as I can remember but my focus has turned towards realism and people since I was about 14 years old. I’m currently 18 years of age.

2. What is your favorite medium and subject?
My favorite medium is a tie between charcoal and soft pastels. I prefer easily blended mediums like those or paint. My favorite subjects are faces and people as I enjoy capturing expression and emotion.

3. Do you have any routines to be more creative or do you just jump right in?
I have absolutely no creative routines. I just decide what seems aesthetically pleasing and draw. Sometimes I don’t know what or who I’m drawing until I’m well into the piece.

4. What are your future plans and how would you most like to use your talents?
I am working towards selling portraits and cultivating my creativity while completing art school. I hope to collaborate with my dad on a larger scale and ultimately I want to illustrate books for children. I would like to use my talents to challenge the set beliefs that people have about what art is supposed to do. I hope to create beauty and bring it into the world to inspire people, especially girls and women.

5. Do you have any influences?
Some influences I have are my dad, my mom, my high school art teacher from my senior year in high school and a small group of friends that have encouraged me to grow artistically, one of whom has helped me throughout most of my journey in the art world.

6. What are your other hobbies and interests besides art?
Some non-art related hobbies I have are science and puzzle solving.

7. Have you won any awards for your art?
I have won several awards for my art, among them a youth logo competition and three first place ribbons at the county fair, including the adult/ open category. I also received a superior rating at a national art festival last August.

Now here are the papa/daughter team Slesarik.

The Dragon of Didright

There lives a good dragon of Didright
who dutifully does what he’s told.
This dutiful dragon of Didright,
he guards the king’s diamonds and gold.

One day the dragon of Didright
did something especially brazen.
This “dutiful” dragon of Didright,
he traded the gold for a raisin.

The diamonds the dragon of Didright,
he traded for minty herb tea.
This “dutiful” dragon of Didright—
was wrong, I’m sure you’ll agree?

That night the dragon of Didright
was banished and sang a sad song.
He moved from the suburbs of Didright.
He moved from Didright to Didwrong.
(C) 2016 by Ken Slesarik
All Rights Reserved

Ken, thank you for introducing us to Catherine.
Catherine, I enjoyed featuring you today and wish you all the best in your chosen career.

David