'Inspiration is all around' Bulgarian husband and wife are new artists-in-residence at St. Margaret's School in Tappahannock.

Photo by Davis Turner / The Free Lance-Star Artist-in-residence Konstantina Konstantinov (left) watches St. Margaret's School sophomore Palmer Ware (center) at the pottery wheel during an art class. Click for larger photo. Photo by Davis Turner / The Free Lance-Star Emily Nein (left) and Victoria Grant (center) laugh as Lindsay Swinson (right) tries to reattach an arm to her bear sculpture during art class. Having teachers from Bulgaria gives the girls the chance to learn about art and another country at the same time. Click for larger photo.

Bulgarian husband and wife are new artists-in-residence at St. Margaret's School in Tappahannock.

ROB HEDELT   Rob Hedelt's archive   E-mail Rob Hedelt

THE NEW ARTISTS-in-resi- dence at St. Margaret's School were born and artistically trained in Bulgaria, created award-winning paintings in Malta and recently put their artistic stamp on huge sails in the Northern Neck.

They're Ignat "Konst" Konstantinov and his wife, Konstantina. For the next year, the couple will share their old-world background and ever-changing styles with the students and the community served by the private day and boarding school of 160 students in Tappahannock.

I was curious how a couple with artistic roots in such far-flung places as Bulgaria and Malta would interact with art students in a small boarding school on the Rappahannock River in Essex County, so I decided to visit and see.

I met the Konstantinovs as they started their morning pottery class with a dozen or so students whose art backgrounds ranged from extensive to none.

Konst, with a natty dark tie tucked into his pottery apron, spoke slowly but emphatically opening the class with a short lesson on inspiration.

Showing a picture he'd found of a small boat steered by a single boatman, he showed how this had given him and Konstantina the inspiration for a much more detailed and biblically inspired painting.

"The artist looks for inspiration wherever he or she can find it: in the sky, the clouds, the water," he said. "Then you take the idea at the center of that inspiration and build on it."

Standing at the end of the small classroom that looked out over the wind-blown waves of the Rappahannock River, he added, "Here, in this place, inspiration is all around you."

To that end, the day's assignment was for the students to make a small, simple sketch and then begin transferring it into small rectangles of clay before them on the round tables filling the room.

The assignment provided an opportunity to get the students' reactions to their new teachers.

"They're different from most art teachers," said junior Lindsay Swinson of Tappahannock. "Instead of insisting that your art follow rules or that it look a certain way, they help you pursue your own ideas, to find yourself in your art."

Amy Connors, a junior from Alexandria, said the couple has helped her learn how to go from an idea to a finished piece of art.

"They've showed us, through their work, how each piece of work has a history to it, a story behind it," she said as she carved her clay into an elaborate emblem shaped like a flower.

Ashley Class, a 10th-grader from San Francisco, and Emily Mein, a senior from Burke, were somewhat surprised at the encouragement they received to pursue their favorite art forms.

"I really like dragons and fantasy, and lots of my earlier art teachers would tell me that wasn't serious art," she said. "But they [the Konstantinovs] have encouraged me to include it."

Mein's interest is fashion design, which her new teachers are helping with as well.

Catherine Neuhardt-Minor, chairman of the fine arts department at St. Margaret's, said helping students with self-expression is the art department's basic thrust.

"What they have to offer is an old-world view of doing things," she said. "As artists, their own techniques are very different, very exciting. But they are both classically trained, and can give students the structure they need to realize their visions."

The Konstantinovs, who live in campus housing and take meals in the stunning, glass-lined cafeteria overlooking the river, are teaching more students than just those in art classes.

They work with dozens of other artistically inclined St. Margaret's students in special activity periods several times each week, and are offering classes to adults in the evenings.

They are both continuing their own artwork as well. Together, they have created a series of large, mixed-medium pieces over the past several years, done on doors, sails and canvases adorned with driftwood, often biblically inspired.

Konst, who explains that much of the couple's art stems from a devout spirituality, would label his style as abstract expressionism and adds that he's always trying new styles, adding new materials like glass or wood to his work.

Konstantina, who is an accomplished artist in miniatures and watercolors, calls herself more of a realist.

The two often collaborate on larger pieces, such as the 14-painting "Stations of the Cross" series to be part of a school faculty exhibit in the school's community/technology center starting Monday, Oct. 7.

With their students, the Konstantinovs also plan to create one or more elaborate, large works of art that will be displayed there for years to come.

"This is really a great fit for them and for St. Margaret's," said Neuhardt-Minor. "They are so willing to give the students all they have to offer, whether it's their artistic talents or simply information about a part of the world these girls know little about."

She added, "They are also two people in a loving, long-term relationship," she said. "You can't be around them long and not see that. That in itself is something our students can learn from."

ROB HEDELT can be reached at The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401; by fax at 373-8455; by phone at 374-5415; or by e-mail at rhedelt@freelance star.com.

Date published: Tue, 10/01/2002