Fine Portraiture
Wildlife
Landscapes
Flavored with colors and brushstrokes of centuries past
Artist's Statement
"Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it" -- Pope John Paul II
As soon as I was old enough to hold a crayon, I was drawing. No one introduced me to it. It was instinctive, as natural for me as breathing. I wasn't even thinking about what it was I was doing. I liken it to a musician whose fingers know exactly where to go to create a note without looking at sheet music. Except for me, the notes are the colors on my palette that come together to sing an aria on my canvas. The joy in the creating is more than doubled, when what has been created, gives joy to others.
Liz Viztes, Artist
11-25-08
About The ArtistTalent Inherited Through GenerationsOver a century ago, Liz's great-grandmother loaded a horse-drawn cart with her pottery to sell in the market of a small village in Hungary. Liz's grandfather, Louis Jackovich, was born in America, but educated in Hungary. He came back to the States after World War I where he painted murals in churches in Pennsylvania. Primarily a self-taught artist whose strengths lay in portraiture, he also excelled musically, playing the piano, violin and cello. His many commissions included paintings of Christ for many American churches in the early '70's. |
 Oil
on canvas31" x 55" including fringe. Designed and Painted by Louis Jackovich |
In
1971, Liz placed 2nd Place in watercolors for her age group in the State
of Ohio PTA. Liz had been in the first grade when the painting had been
entered at the end of the school year without her knowledge.
Watercolor
12" x 16"
Second Place
State of Ohio PTA
1971
While a student at Cleveland Heights High School, Liz drew cartoons for the student newspaper, drawings for the yearbook and contributed a pen & ink drawing depicting "Children of the Ghetto", that would later be published in 1986 in the book, Journal of Testimony: Volume III: The Legacy, for the generations after the Holocaust, a living Tribute to the Victims of the Holocaust by the classes of the 1980's.
After graduating high school, Liz attended The Cleveland Institute of Art and was steered into majoring in Graphic Design, subsequently earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in the field. It was while taking a portrait painting class during her senior year at CIA, that Liz came to the realization that her talents were much better suited to the fine arts.
Liz's grandfather knew the promise of her talent, but he never saw its maturation. He passed away over two decades ago. A stroke had left him paralyzed on his left side and he lived the last seven years of his life in a nursing home, not the artist colony in Mexico that he had so frequently visited and had planned on retiring in. His mind was alert and active to the very end, planning travels and adventures his body refused to let him experience.
Continuing the Family's Artistic Legacy
The heavy wooden easel that once bore the weight of her grandfather's canvases now bear her own. Inspired by artists such as Rembrandt and Renoir, Liz's work is flavored with colors and brushstrokes of centuries past. She may prefer to work in oils, yet some of her best pieces have been in the sometimes unforgiving medium of watercolor. Though portraiture may be her first choice of subject matter, wildlife and landscapes vie for close second favorites for this nature-loving artist.