Today Magazine • July 2024

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ROCK-SOLID SCARLET • A male scarlet tanager perches on a rock in a Canton yard • Scarlet tanagers can be seen in U.S. Northeast woodlands in the spring and summer — however, if you’re looking for male scarlet tanagers in the late summer or early fall, you’ll need to look for a bird of a different color because their red feathers become yellow-green • Later in the fall they migrate to northern South America Sources • National Audubon Society website • Cornell University: All About Birds website

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LEADING OFF

Kosovo Creativity

CONTENTS

LET’S PLAY a history quiz game: When you think of 1999, what COVER STORY news stories come to mind? The April edition of Today recalled that 4 — Creative Kosovo Transplant UConn men’s basketball won the program’s first NCAA title in ’99 — After enduring the Kosovo War and a genocide, our cover story recognized the 25th anniversary of this notable atha family trio has journeyed to Connecticut and letic achievement. Nationwide, this was perhaps the biggest sports opened a dynamic art gallery story of 1999. In Connecticut, the UConn victory ranks as one of the SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTS #1 biggest ’99 stories, sports or otherwise. What else comes to mind?

Here’s some help in the form of a top-three list from the AP: 18 — ​Artist’s​Perspective​ 1. Clinton impeachment trial • 2. Columbine • 3. Kosovo From wartime woes to desert inspiration to an This June marked the 25th anniversary of the end of the Kosovo Avon gallery, the Kalaveshi Arts story beckons war. I feel bad that I didn’t recall this occurred in ’99 yet clearly HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS remember UConn’s championship — in this month’s Today Magazine 24 — History Lesson cover story, hopefully we’ll see that healing can occur through art The inspiring Kalaveshi artistic saga is rooted in after a horrific and heartbreaking war … BWD the difficult and centuries-old history of Kosovo SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTS #2

26 — Art Bonus Acclaimed painter Edith LaMonica is in the Kalaveshi show — here are two more offerings QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“ The Kalaveshi gallery is an inviting exhibition space ... to see and celebrate the creative artworks of local artists ” — Edith LaMonica

BY THE NUMBERS

25 — artists in Kalaveshi show

LETTERS

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COVER STORY KUDOS Our June cover story celebrates the golden anniversary of the Avon Historical Society — CLICK HERE for our coverage CONGRATULATIONS to Today Magazine on the splendid issue marking the 50th anniversary of the Avon Historical Society. Achieving such a milestone is indeed a reason to celebrate with the stories and photographs you featured.

Thank you! The town of Avon can be so proud of this all-volunteer organization, its president Terri Wilson, its board members and volunteers, and of all the remarkable and generous people who made the Avon Historical Society what it is today!

With the new Avon Museum (8 East Main Street) under development, this is the perfect time to join.

Membership is open to all, and joining in this 50th anniversary year would be a gift to both the new member and the historical society. ss — Nora Howard • Avon Town Historian IMAGINE my surprise when I saw that you devoted almost the whole June issue to the Avon Historical Society — thank you very much for giving all this “ink” to our story!

The timing is perfect given our 50th anniversary, and we are about to open a new museum in 2025 celebrating Avon’s history, with a soft opening in late 2024. As the article explains, it has taken a whole village to move the Society forward in the past five decades.

We thank everyone who, over the many years, has taken the time and effort to make our mission a reality for everyone’s benefit. Stay tuned to see what happens during the next 50 years of the Avon Historical Society.

— Terri Wilson • AHS President SUBSCRIBE to TODAY for FREE — CLICK HERE

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FROM WAR -TORN TO ART REBORN Family’s Journey From Kosovo To Connecticut Sparks New Art Gallery

By Bruce William Deckert Today Magazine • Editor-in-Chief

WHAT DO YOU recall about your 10th birthday?

Saranda Kalaveshi has a vivid and cherished 10th-birthday memory — her school in Kosovo honored her with a special solo exhibition featuring her artwork.

On that momentous birthday, what Saranda didn’t know was that nearly a quarter-century later she and her sister and their mom would open an art gallery 4500 miles away in Avon, Connecticut.

Yes, this artistic trio established Kalaveshi Arts Studio/Gallery in November 2023 at the Riverdale Farms plaza in Avon — and eight months later they are hosting their first art show in pursuit of a shared dream. Their desire is to offer an artistic space that inspires community and creativity in Greater Hartford and across Connecticut.

The Small Works Juried Exhibition at Kalaveshi Arts is open until the last Saturday in July. The work of acclaimed Avon-based artist Edith Skiba LaMonica is being showcased at the exhibit, along with many others.

“The Kalaveshi gallery is an inviting exhibition space that offers the Farmington Valley community

COVER STORY SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTS

a new opportunity to see and celebrate the creative artworks of local artists,” says LaMonica, whose work has been featured by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the New Britain Museum of American Art, and the Cantonbased Gallery on the Green.

“The variety of paintings, collage and mixed media makes this exhibit an art adventure.”

Saranda points to her first solo art show as a key formative experience — yet her interest in painting had been kindled in her preschool years.

“I started drawing at the age of 3,” she says, depicting animals and cartoon scenes in her artwork — and as her mom recalls, Saranda would “draw with her finger in the air” sometimes when she slept.

“My mother saved all of my drawings from that time, and when she showed them to my teacher years later, he curated a solo exhibit at my elementary school that fell on my 10th birthday in March 1999,” Saranda says. “This was during wartime in Kosovo, but we were still going to school in my town.”

The Kosovo War made interna-

tional headlines in the late 1990s — and the war backdrop illustrates how birthday memories can cut both ways.

When family and friends celebrate via a birthday party, joy can flow like a peaceful river and pleasant memories ensue. However, if a close family member forgets a natal day or neglects to send birthday greetings, the river becomes choppy

I think everyone is born with the ability to create, as it is well-known that it’s extremely therapeutic for the human mind — it’s a form of meditation and reflection — Saranda Kalaveshi • Kalaveshi Arts Studio/Gallery 4

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and the result can be a painful memory.

For Saranda and her family and neighbors in Kosovo, the water metaphor is apropos — because the wartime river reached a torrential and dangerous flood stage in February 1998, when the war erupted in earnest.

On Saranda’s 10th birthday in March 1999, of course she didn’t realize Kalaveshi Arts would debut 24 years later in Connecticut — but she also didn’t know what would happen in her home nation in the week that followed her celebratory art show.

“Five days later,” she says, “NATO started a bombing campaign to stop the Serbian genocide in Kosovo, and the schools, like everything else, shut down.”

NATO is the acronym for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a political and military alliance founded in 1949 with 12 member nations — 10 European countries plus the United States and Canada.

In 1999, NATO had 19 members.

Today, NATO is comprised of 32 nations — 30 from Europe, plus Canada and the U.S. The decision to bomb the Serbian and Yugoslavian military was

Drita, Njomza and Saranda at the debut of the Kalaveshi Arts Studio/Gallery on Saturday, November 25 last year, two days after Thanksgiving — Saranda posted the following on Instagram: “What an incredible opening night ...

THANK YOU to everyone who showed up ... Your support and interest in our art means the world to us!”

ON THE COVER Saranda at the Kalaveshi Arts exhibition at Bloomfield-based Duncaster, a senior and assisted living community, on the first Sunday in April — the top painting is entitled Lilac-Breasted Roller and the bottom painting is entitled Kingfisher — both are 10 by 8 inches

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Drita, her mom Fatime, Njomza, Drita’s dad Rauf and Saranda — in June 2005 on Njomza’s prom night in front of the family’s house — in Gjilan, Kosovo

NATO’s first intervention without a United Nations mandate. NATO’s bombardment, initiated in late March and aimed at the Serbian forces in Kosovo, signaled the beginning of the end of the conflict.

The Kosovo War concluded in June 1999 after 11 weeks of air strikes — so this past June marked the 25th anniversary of the war’s conclusion.

LOST​ART​PLUS​ KOSOVO HISTORY “After the war ended,” Saranda notes, “I went to my elementary school to find out that most of the paintings and cultural artifacts in my school had been destroyed by the Serbian army. Some of those paintings were my interpretations of the war and what was going on around us.”

In 1999, Kosovo was a province

in Serbia, and Serbia was one of two republics in Yugoslavia.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have any paintings from that exhibition,” Saranda says, “but I do have photographs of the event, in which some of them are visible.”

Before the Kosovo War, during the Cold War from 1946-91, communist Yugoslavia comprised six republics: Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina — despite the dual name, Bosnia and Herzegovina described only one republic.

Officially known as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the nation encompassed about 98,700 square miles and espoused communism for those 45 years, but was distinct from the Soviet Union.

By comparison, New England encompasses almost 72,000 square

Whether a painting turns out to be display-worthy is of secondary importance — what truly matters is the self-discovery gained throughout the creative journey — Saranda Kalaveshi miles and also includes six political units — the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Saranda was born in 1989, the same year the Berlin Wall was dismantled and the Cold War began to thaw. Her sister Njomza was born in 1987, and their mother Drita’s birth year is 1965.

In tandem with the dissolution

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Drita, Njomza, Saranda and Njomza’s daughter at the debut of the Kalaveshi Arts exhibition at Bloomfield-based Duncaster — in front of Njomza’s work entitled The Ritual that pays homage to the dying tradition of bridal rituals in southern Kosovo — mixed media on canvas: 30 by 40 inches

of the Soviet Union in 1991, communism in Yugoslavia likewise collapsed. In 1991 and 1992, four of Yugoslavia’s republics declared their independence as separate countries — Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina — leaving only Montenegro and Serbia (including Kosovo) in a diminished and rebranded Yugoslavia.

The resulting federal turmoil led to the Bosnian War from 199295 and later to the Kosovo War in 1998-99.

In 1974, Yugoslavia’s constitution had granted Kosovo autono8

mous status, essentially giving the province the privilege of self-government — separate from the Serbia republic — to acknowledge the distinct interests of Kosovo’s Albanians. While Serbians and Albanians were side-by-side citizens in communist Yugoslavia, ethnic differences and grievances evidently simmered for decades and, indeed, centuries.

In 1989, changes to the constitution fundamentally eliminated the provincial autonomy Kosovo had enjoyed. Concurrent draconian measures put tens of thousands of Kosovo’s Albanians out of work,

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restricted their cultural organizations, replaced Albanian officials with Serbians, and closed Albanianlanguage schools.

In response, many of Kosovo’s Albanians boycotted Serbian institutions via a peaceful protest, and Albanian citizens in Kosovo established their own alternative shadow government — without any real political clout. Nevertheless, these countermeasures failed to obtain the support of the international community.

Saranda’s family has an Albanian heritage — and was therefore part of the specific population of Yugo-

slavian civilians targeted by Serbian aggression and persecution and retaliation during the late 1990s.

Saranda and Njomza were born in Gjakova, a city in western Kosovo near the border of the neighboring nation of Albania.

In 1991, when they were preschool age, Drita and the girls moved to Albania. They returned to Kosovo in 1995, to the city of Gjilan, where the sisters spent the rest of their growing-up years — including the two war years that closed out the 20th century.

HOMETOWN WAR STORIES The NATO bombardment hit Gjakova hard on March 24, 1999 — the first day of the air strikes targeting Serbian forces. The bombing was welcomed as friendly fire by Gjakova residents, yet Serbian retribution swiftly followed.

Serbian soldiers burned down a distinguished neighborhood at the heart of the city. Some citizens who

It gives me great satisfaction each and

attempted to extinguish every time I create something that I the fire became early victims of the NATO initially found challenging, as I surprise campaign, murdered by myself and realize that I am capable of Serbian troops.

During the two-year much more than I might tell myself I am war about 1800 Gjakova residents were killed and — Saranda Kalaveshi 6,500 houses in the city were destroyed. percent of the Albanian populaThe overall death toll from tion of Kosovo in 1998. Thousands the Kosovo War has been estiof houses were then looted and mated at more than 18,000 along burned. with roughly 4000 people who “Luckily, no family member of disappeared. ours was murdered during the war,” Universal agreement on the numbers is elusive, yet one estimate Saranda says, “but my mother’s cousins were forced to take their is that Kosovo’s Albanian civilians belongings and leave their houses suffered 10,000 deaths via horand everything they owned from a rific mass murders, and many were town only a few miles from Gjilan buried in hundreds of mass grave called Përlepnicë. The entire village sites in Kosovo and Serbia. was forced out and many houses The refugee crisis was also were burned to the ground, includshocking and far-reaching. An ing our cousins’ house.” estimated 1.5 million Kosovo Some nearby friends suffered Albanians were forcibly expelled worse fates. A close neighbor was from their homes — roughly 90

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It is easy to question whether your art is any good and to be too self-critical in this field, and I think that finding the right audience for your style of art can be challenging — it’s always a work-in-progress — Saranda Kalaveshi shot when he walked out of his house — “but he survived,” Saranda reports. Singer Haki Misini, the frontman of the popular Kosovo rock band MAK for nearly three decades, was a friend of Drita and her brother.

“A very well-known musician of the time, [he] was kidnapped by the Serbian forces only hours before the war ended,” Saranda says. “His remains were found five years later.”

Numerous historians describe the atrocities committed in Kosovo in the late 1990s as both a genocide and ethnic cleansing — the latter refers to a government’s goal of eradicating and eliminating people from another racial group via deportation, displacement and/or mass killing in order to establish an ethnically uniform population.

Genocides and ethnic cleansing are widely considered war crimes.

While racially incited and religiously inspired cleansing campaigns have occurred throughout human history, according to History.com, “the rise of extreme nationalist movements during the 20th century led to

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an unprecedented level of ethnically motivated brutality, including the Turkish massacre of Armenians during World War 1, the Nazi annihilation of some 6 million European Jews in the Holocaust, and the forced displacement and mass killings carried out in the former Yugoslavia and the African country of Rwanda during the 1990s.”

As the new millennium began, tension between Albanians and Serbians continued. The two-republic Yugoslavia dissolved in February 2003, rebranding as the nation of Serbia and Montenegro, and in 2006 Serbia and Montenegro divided and became two separate nations.

Finally, in February 2008, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia.

The United States and many other influential members of the United Nations immediately recognized Kosovo as a sovereign nation, but China, Russia and Serbia did not and have maintained that stance. Today, 115 of 192 UN members officially recognize Kosovo, including 22 of the 27 European Union countries — but Kosovo has not yet been admitted into the United Nations.

By the way, Saranda’s and Njomza’s Kalaveshi surname is “an Albanian last name that isn’t very common,” says Saranda. “It translates roughly to a ‘bunch’ — for example, a bunch of grapes … there is no literal translation to English.”

More specifically, the Kalaveshi surname comes from Drita’s marriage to Saranda’s and Njomza’s father.

Drita and their father parted ways when Saranda was an infant, and she has no memories of him.

Meanwhile, Drita’s parents were pivotal components of the girls’ growing-up years in Kosovo. Saranda says

their grandfather, Rauf Ismaili, was a stable and present father figure for her and Njomza. Their grandmother Fatime likewise provided a loving and reliable presence.

The two sisters have no other siblings, but they were essentially raised together with four cousins.

Drita has two older brothers — she is the youngest, and her next-oldest brother has four children: three girls and a boy.

“We’re very close,” Saranda notes. “We’re basically siblings.”

ARTISTIC​JOURNEY The Kalaveshi Arts Studio/Gallery is the culmination of a creative multi-continent journey.

In 2010, Saranda moved from Kosovo to the United States as an international student to study acting.

She graduated from the University of New Mexico with a bachelor’s degree in theatre and then attained a Master of Fine Arts (aka MFA) in acting from the University of

ABOVE — Saranda’s teacher Xhevat Latifi (to her right) and artist Luan Shahiqi (to her left) preside at her art show — her Uncle Arif (Drita’s next-oldest brother) is wearing a black jacket — two unidentified attendees are also standing up front BELOW — Supporting Saranda: Her mom Drita • Latifi, also a journalist TODAY MAGAZINE www.TodayPublishing.net – JULY 2024 11 and poet • Shahiqi • artist –and art teacher Ragip Ramandani

Three U.S. soldiers who were part of NATO’s peacekeeping Kosovo Force (aka KFOR) dined often in the early 2000s at this restaurant Drita established — she has her arm around her eldest daughter Njomza, and younger sister Saranda is seated at the end of the table — to her left is Uncle Arif (Drita’s next-oldest brother) with his three daughters who are technically cousins •

Florida. Throughout this time, she performed in numerous theatre productions and appeared in a few movies that were filmed in New Mexico and Los Angeles.

Saranda’s love of the stage took center stage from 2010 to 2020, yet she continued to paint and exhibit her artwork when possible.

Going back to her childhood, in addition to the recognition of her solo art show, she won first-place awards in art competitions for three consecutive years in Gjilan and received a third-place award in a Kosovo-wide competition. She also displayed musical talent and became a classically trained pianist as she attended Prenk Jakova Classical Music High School in Gjilan.

When her school art exhibit occurred, pursuing art as a career 12

But they grew up together with the Kaleveshi sisters as de facto siblings — the gentleman standing with the soldier’s arm around him was a server at the restaurant •

and opening an art gallery weren’t even remotely on Saranda’s radar.

“When my teacher opened the solo exhibit on my 10th birthday,” she says, “I had no ambition for anything at all. I was just a kid — in fact, quite confused that I was being celebrated. … I didn’t think [my paintings] were special enough to be seen and celebrated by others. I was, however, very excited that it was my birthday — that was the really exciting part for me. Only years later did I realize the significance of the day.”

Let’s fast-forward to the significance of the COVID pandemic in 2020, when Saranda shifted gears career-wise and her artist’s calling came into focus.

When COVID hit in March 2020, Saranda and her husband

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Nathan Coleman were living in New York City — they had married in 2014 after meeting at the University of New Mexico. To escape the COVID fallout in New York, they moved back to New Mexico to live with Saranda’s mother in Rio Rancho.

Drita had moved to New Mexico in 2012 when Saranda was a student. During what was intended to be a short-term visit with her daughter, Drita learned about an employment opportunity at UNM’s University Libraries, applied and landed the job, and settled in Albuquerque.

In 2020 her home became a pandemic refuge for Saranda and Nathan. Four months earlier, in November 2019, Njomza had relocated from Kosovo with her then-4-

year-old daughter, joining Drita in New Mexico.

So the pandemic resulted in a family reunion in the U.S. Southwest.

Given the downtime of the COVID quarantine, Saranda returned to her artistic roots and produced dozens of paintings, and Njomza followed suit. Meanwhile, Drita was painting and producing pottery after taking classes that resurrected her long-dormant artistic talent — she also studied printmaking. She took these classes in conjunction with the degree she received from the University of New Mexico in 2017.

Yes, Drita leveraged her academic opportunity as a UNM employee and earned a bachelor’s in liberal arts and integrative studies — with a unique concentration in ceramics for people with special needs, echoing her previous collegiate program. Before her girls were born, she attended the University of Zagreb in Croatia and focused on disability studies, with a specialty in helping children with speech impairment.

So she became the third family member with a UNM degree.

Whenever and wherever this mother and her daughter and son-in-law gather, they can celebrate a miniUniversity of New Mexico homecoming.

Drita excelled at art in her youth but pursued various entrepreneurial business ventures to provide income for her family. To describe her resumé as a resounding eclectic success is a dramatic understatement — her successful Kosovo businesses have included a shoe GRANBY TODAY company, a restaurant, a cosmetics store and a construction company.

“My Mom is amazing,” Saranda says. “A magazine could write an entire article just about her and her life experiences — actually, it would probably take an entire book!”

Up until 2019, Njomza had stayed in Kosovo. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in acting from the University of Prishtina, and in 2008 she took a job with the theater in Gjilan, where she worked as an actress in a variety of roles until making the move to the U.S. Landscape — by Njomza Kalaveshi The trio’s artistic flurry during For info or to purchase paintings: the pandemic led to a website that 860-385-4826 showcases their work, launched in 4.9” wide high 2021 — kalaveshiarts.com — plus x 3.65”kalaveshiarts@gmail.com

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The Kalaveshi Arts Studio/Gallery is located in the most historic building in the Riverdale Farms plaza in Avon — the original farmhouse closest to Route 10

exhibits at several galleries and art festivals in New Mexico.

“The idea for our gallery came after we’d been consistently painting during COVID,” Saranda explains, “as that was the time we were reunited and living together in New Mexico after more than 10 years apart.”

In July 2022, Nathan and Saranda moved to Connecticut after he was accepted in the clinical psychology doctoral program at the University of Hartford. They settled in Greater Hartford, and Drita and Njomza moved to the Farmington Valley at the same time.

“When we moved to Connecticut, we knew that we wanted to continue creating,” Saranda says.

“We needed a studio space for that.

When we found the space at River14

dale Farms, we realized this could be a gallery where we can showcase what we’re creating and create opportunities for other local artists to show their work as well.”

A VISION OF HEALING The word is spreading in Greater Hartford about the Kalaveshi Arts Studio/Gallery.

“The response from the local community has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Nathan.

“Kalaveshi Arts appears to really be making a name for itself as a centralized source of high-quality artwork and commissions within the Farmington River Valley, and it will be very interesting to see where all of these paths connect down the road.”

Nathan has a bachelor’s degree

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from the University of New Mexico and a master’s in forensic psychology from John Jay College in Manhattan.

Asked what impresses him most about his wife’s creative work connected to the gallery, he says: “Often, it’s simply her most recent work that catches my attention — Saranda has an amazing eye for fine details and, combined with her work ethic, she’s just such an artistic juggernaut.”

The Small Works Juried Exhibition, curated by prominent West Hartford artist Carol Ganick, highlights the imaginative output of 25 artists.

“In addition to showing their own work, the Kalaveshi gallery is supporting and promoting the arts in the community,” says Edith LaMon-

ica. “The current gallery exhibition is their first juried exhibit of art by local artists.”

Besides the display at their Avon location, the Kalaveshi Arts trio has shown their artwork locally at the West Hartford Art League and at Duncaster, a senior and assisted living community in Bloomfield.

“The artworks created by gallery owners Drita, Njomza and Saranda echo with memories of their shared culture and life experiences,” says LaMonica, who has taught art at Rutgers University in New Jersey, the Avon-based Farmington Valley Arts Center, and the New Britain Museum of American Art. “However, each artist coveys her own vision. Their works are unique to each in subject, style, process and materials, including fabrics and beads. Combining art history with cultural images, they create thought-provoking contemporary portraits.”

After experiencing such a difficult and painful cultural history in Medium Pharaoh with Epoxy > Pharaoh series — by Njomza Kalaveshi Mixed Media Mini Pharaoh in Purple v

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war-torn Kosovo, this sister-sister-mother trio is aiming to leverage art as a vehicle for healing. The vision of Kalaveshi Arts expresses the shared human vision of citizens in Connecticut, Kosovo and everywhere inbetween — a simple heartfelt longing for the fulfillment of our hopes and dreams for a peaceful and meaningful resolution of life’s many conflicts.

Indeed, the visual and musical arts are time-honored ways to soothe troubled hearts and minds and to mend emotional and psychological wounds.

In this light, while the career callings of Nathan and Saranda may appear to be quite different, they actually go hand in hand. His profession is based on the science of psychology, while hers focuses on the creativity of art. Yet art and science as well as math and music surely interweave and overlap — academic gurus and novices alike universally acknowledge the truth of this notion.

Further, the goals of the arts and sciences are essentially identical — to help the human community seek, find and discern truth and beauty while discovering solutions for the hurts and hopes of citizens of every nation across human history.

The bio page on the Kalaveshi Arts website contains the following statement: “Saranda’s goal always has been, and remains, to inspire, educate and entertain others through the diverse interactions between the performing and visual arts, and to this end she remains steadfast in her pursuits of artistic knowledge and revelation.”

Let’s return to the true tale of a 10-year-old girl in Kosovo growing up in the midst of a bloody struggle as a front-row witness to one of the most tragic wars of the 20th century.

“If someone had told me at 10 years old that 24 years later we’d have an art gallery in the United States, I would not have believed them,” Saranda says. “It was almost impossible for us to leave Kosovo, and to move to the United States was only a dream.”

Perhaps the expression of the Kalaveshi Arts vision can be reprised in a four-word phrase — from war-torn to reborn. + Today editor-in-chief Bruce Deckert is an awardwinning journalist who believes we all merit awards daily when we leverage our God-given gifts for good Today Magazine covers community news that matters nationwide and worldwide, focusing on the heart of Connecticut’s Farmington Valley — the five core towns of Avon, Canton, Farmington, Granby and Simsbury —————————————————————— CLICK HERE — for Today’s award-winning coverage of the MLK Day Bus Ride + Rwanda Genocide Red Poppies — by Drita Choy

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Kosovo​To​CT:​Long​Trek​For​Artistic​Kin Special to Today Magazine

Saranda Kalaveshi has answered this exclusive Q&A on behalf of Kalaveshi Arts —————— Saranda and her sister Njomza Kalaveshi and their mother Drita are the three joint owners of Kalaveshi Arts Studio/Gallery ——————————— Kalaveshi Arts Studio/Gallery Riverdale Farms plaza Avon • CT Phone — 860-385-4826 Email — kalaveshiarts@gmail.com Website — www.kalaveshiarts.com Instagram — @kalaveshiarts Facebook — Kalaveshi Arts ——————————— Where were you born and raised?

Kosovo — I was born in the city of Gjakova, but raised in Gjilan, Kosovo. I moved to the United States as an international student in 2010.

What year did you move to Connecticut, and from where?

My family and I moved to CT from New Mexico in 2022.

Your high school and year graduated: Prenk Jakova Classical Music High School in Gjilan, Kosovo — graduated June 2008 Your further education history: • BA in Theatre from the University of New Mexico • MFA in Acting from the University of Florida Is art your full-time career?

Art has become my full-time career since opening the studio/gallery in November of 2023.

Work history: During my undergraduate years, 18

Saranda Kalaveshi earned an MFA in Acting from the University of Florida — in January 2017 her mom Drita visited her during a rehearsal

I started drawing at the age of 3. My mother saved all of my I worked for University Libraries at drawings from that time and, in the University of New Mexico. As a fact, when she showed them to my graduate student, I taught theater for teacher years later, he curated a solo three years at the University of Flor- exhibit at my elementary school for ida. After graduation, I worked at a my 10th birthday in March 1999. couple of theaters in Florida. During This was during wartime in the pandemic, I found myself going Kosovo, but we were still going to back to art — I started painting con- school in my town. sistently again and realized that this Five days later, NATO started a is what I am meant to do. Anywhere bombing campaign to stop the Serand everywhere in between, I’ve bian genocide in Kosovo, and the held other supporting jobs such as schools, like everything else, shut in retail and restaurants. down.

What is your primary medium?

After the war ended in June, I Secondary mediums? went to my elementary school to Oil and acrylic — on canvas, wood find out that most of the paintings panels, hardboard, wood board, and cultural artifacts in my school paper, etc. had been destroyed by the Serbian At what age did you become army. Some of those paintings were interested in art — and what my interpretations of the war and sparked your interest? what was going on around us.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTS

JULY 2024 – www.TodayPublishing.net – TODAY MAGAZINE

Unfortunately, I don’t have any paintings from that exhibition, but I do have photographs of the event, in which some of them are visible.

I don’t know exactly what sparked my interest in art — I simply did it. I lived in the worlds that I created in my own mind, and to some extent still do. Creating art is a big part of it.

What and/or who is the inspiration for your art?

I absolutely love drawing people, portraits and figures — people doing random things, going about their daily lives. I also find inspiration in my own experiences and express them through self-portraits.

At the moment, my favorite artists are John Singer Sargent and contemporary western artist Mark Maggiori.

Goals for the next 1-5 years?

I would like to be able to create as much art as possible and showcase the works in my own gallery and other galleries, and I would like to get to know other artists in the area and exchange ideas for exciting collaborations.

We’re also beginning to put on exhibitions with local artists — we’re currently holding our first Small Works Juried Exhibition that features local artists whose works have been curated and juried by West Hartford artist Carol Ganick.

The show opened on Sunday, June 23 and will remain on display until Saturday, July 27 during our regular hours — Tuesdays thru Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Hopefully, five years from now Kalaveshi Arts will be a wellknown art gallery where people can enjoy the works and draw inspiration.

Most enjoyable aspect of being an artist?

It gives me great satisfaction each and every time I create something

Blue Jay — in gold frame: 10 by 8 inches — by Saranda Kalaveshi

that I initially found challenging, as I surprise myself and realize that I am capable of much more than I might tell myself I am, which is particularly rewarding as an artist.

Most challenging aspect of being an artist?

It is easy to question whether your art is any good and to be too selfcritical in this field, and I think that finding the right audience for your style of art can be challenging — it’s always a work-in-progress.

Most fulfilling accomplishment: Opening Kalaveshi Arts!

Your 3-5 favorite artists: Besides the two that I mentioned above — John Singer Sargent and

Mark Maggiori — I really enjoy the works of Claude Monet, Van Gogh and the contemporary artist Shane Wolf.

The artist who inspires you most — and why: Mark Maggiori, a French-American artist — he depicts scenes from the American Southwest that are simply magical.

Having spent a significant amount of time in the southwestern United States, I have a deep appreciation for the ruggedness and wilderness that comes with the lifestyle out there — and Maggiori, with his vibrant color palette, does it justice.

He romanticizes the Southwest in a way that I’ve never seen done

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before, and also portrays Native Americans in his paintings with the dignity that they deserve.

When I look at his paintings, I want to be inside them — I want to enter the world that he has created!

His art is truly remarkable, and a lot of my artwork that was created when I was living in New Mexico during the COVID quarantine was inspired by his.

An anecdote that provides a glimpse of your work as an artist: Much of my work is an expression of what I am going through during the time I am creating it — during quarantine, I found myself back in New Mexico, after not having lived there for five years.

The strain of enduring isolation, cooped up in a household with five other family members for an indefinite period of time, proved to be a unique experience, and not always in an uplifting manner.

During quarantine, I felt like I lost my sense of identity and purpose in life. I felt trapped, yet unable to do anything about it, and thus my first quarantine self-portrait was born. I portrayed myself sitting in the middle of the desert on a giant cactus, symbolizing my

Blue Porcelain Cup — by Drita Choy 20

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After the war ended in June, I went to my elementary school to find out that most of the paintings and cultural artifacts in my school had been destroyed by the Serbian army — some of those paintings were my interpretations of the war and what was going on around us — Saranda Kalaveshi entrapment, yet peculiar comfort, upon accepting the circumstances that I found myself in.

I created a few other self-portraits throughout that time period, all of which depict a specific experience that I was going through, and these paintings will again be hanging in our gallery for anyone interested in seeing them after our Small Works Exhibition closes at the end of July.

Arts organizations you’re part of: My mother, sister and I are members of the West Hartford Art League.

Galleries where your work has been displayed: Clubhouse Gallery and Saltbox Gallery at the West Hartford Art League • Duncaster in Bloomfield, Connecticut • Ghostwolf Gallery in Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico • The Gallery ABQ in Albuquerque • Taos Fall Arts Festival in Taos, New Mexico • The Hippodrome Theatre in Gainesville, Florida While not everyone has an evident artistic gift, do you believe anyone can create art?

Absolutely — I think everyone is born with the ability to create, as it is well-known that it’s extremely therapeutic for the human mind. It’s a form of meditation and reflection.

So whether a painting turns out to be display-worthy is of secondary Summer Days — Saranda Kalaveshi

importance, what truly matters is the self-discovery gained throughout the creative journey.

What do you appreciate most about the Farmington Valley arts community?

I’m still in my baby steps here getting to know the artists, and I can say that every single person I’ve met has been extremely welcoming and excited to help us on our journey as new gallery owners, which Saranda Kalaveshi I am very thankful for.

What constructive change would you like to see in the Valley?

I don’t really have an answer for this one, as I am new here.

Your age — 35 Further comments and info: Kalaveshi Arts is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment, for anyone interested in coming by.

My mother Drita Choy, my sister Njomza Kalaveshi and I are the artists and joint owners of the gallery, and we have different styles of art, so there is a wide variety of artwork to experience. +

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Family Portrait —by Drita Choy and Saranda Kalaveshi

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Kosovo: Brief History + Timeline

By Bruce William Deckert Today Magazine • Editor-in-Chief

THE HISTORY OF Eastern Europe — including Kosovo — is perhaps less well-known to most Americans than the history of Western Europe, so let’s get oriented and acquainted with some Kosovo history and geography in connection with our cover story on the Kalaveshi Arts Studio/Gallery in Avon.

Sisters Saranda and Njomza Kalaveshi and their mother Drita moved to the United States from Kosovo, and they opened the gallery in November 2023 — see our cover story on page 4.

Kosovo was part of Yugoslavia from 1929 to 2003.

During those seven decades, per Britannica.com, Yugoslavia was organized as three different federated nations. From 1929 until World War 2, Kosovo was in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

In 1946, a year after WW2 ended, Yugoslavia became a communist regime under a new name — the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia — but was distinct from the Soviet Union. In this rebranded Yugo-

In 2008 Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia and asserted its existence as a sovereign nation

HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS

Europe. Situated on the Balkan Peninsula, the region is sometimes called the Balkan states or simply the Balkans — the Balkan Mountains are a prominent geographic feature of the peninsula, and this rugged range runs right through Kosovo.

In the 21st century, newer nomenclature has gained traction as a description for the Balkan region: namely, South-East Europe — also styled South East or SouthEastern Europe.

There is no universal agreement on the nations that constitute the Balkans today, per Britannica.com, but the following are usually included: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (one nation with a dual name), Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia (formerly Macedonia), Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.

Parts of Greece and Turkey are also within the Balkan Peninsula.

Geographically, Kosovo is north of Greece — the distance from the southernmost border of Kosovo to the northernmost border of Greece is a mere 75 miles.

Similarly, Connecticut stretches about 75 miles northto-south. Albania and North Macedonia share Kosovo’s southern border and are in between Kosovo and Greece.

————————————————–—— Timeline of Key Events in Kosovo’s History

slavia, Kosovo was a province of Serbia, one of six republics that made up the Yugoslav federation: Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina — despite the twin nomenclature, Bosnia and Herzegovina described just one republic.

In 1991 and ’92, after the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, four of Yugoslavia’s six republics declared their independence as separate countries. So in 1992 the third Yugoslavia was inaugurated with only two republics, Serbia and Montenegro, and renamed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Two bloody and brutal wars ensued — the Bosnian War (1992-95) and the Kosovo War (1998-99).

In 2003, Yugoslavia was renamed Serbia and Montenegro, and in 2006 that union was dissolved and two independent countries were formed. Kosovo remained a distinct province of Serbia.

Then, in 2008, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia and asserted its existence as a sovereign nation.

Kosovo is part of the Balkan region of Eastern 24

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1st Century — Region comprising present-day Kosovo becomes part of the Roman Empire — the area’s population is believed to be descended from the ancient Illyrian people 1100s — Serbia gains control of Kosovo 1346-71 — Reign of Serbian Empire — Kosovo is at the heart of the empire 1389 — Battle of Kosovo — Serbia loses the battle as Ottoman Empire expands — Kosovo remains under Turkish Ottoman rule for 500-plus years 1878 — Serbia regains independence — Kosovo remains under Turkish and Ottoman control 1912-13 — Balkan Wars — Serbia takes control of Kosovo as Ottoman Empire dissolves 1918 — After World War 1, Kosovo becomes part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes 1929-2003 — Yugoslavia is established in 1929 and exists as a federated nation until 2003 in three distinct phases: the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Socialist Fed-

Beneath Desert Night — by Saranda Kalaveshi

eral Republic of Yugoslavia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia — the name Yugoslavia comes from the Serbo-Croatian language and translates to English as Land of the South Slavs or simply South Slavia 1929 — Kingdom of Yugoslavia is inaugurated in 1929 — Kosovo is part of this kingdom 1946 — Yugoslavia rebrands after World War 2 as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia — communist but distinct from the Soviet Union 1974 — Yugoslav constitution grants Kosovo autonomy — giving the province de facto self-government 1989 — Changes to constitution under new Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic abolish Kosovo’s autonomy and target Kosovo’s Albanian population via harsh Serbian policies 1992 — After four of six Yugoslav republics declare independence, the remaining republics of Serbia and Montenegro rebrand as Federal Republic of Yugoslavia — Kosovo continues as a province of Serbia amid growing unrest

1998 — Kosovo War begins in February — Serbian genocide of Kosovo’s Albanians occurs as the war progresses 1999 — Kosovo War ends in June — NATO intervenes in March via a bombing campaign that stops the genocide and ends the war — NATO’s peacekeeping patrol (Kosovo Force aka KFOR) enters Kosovo — Kosovo comes under UN administration 2003 — Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is renamed Serbia and Montenegro 2006 — Serbia and Montenegro separate into two independent nations — Kosovo remains a province of Serbia and under UN administration 2008 — Kosovo declares independence from Serbia in February Sources for Today Magazine’s reporting — BalkanInsight.com • BBC.com • Britannica.com • DW.com: Deutsche Welle: German media outlet • History.State.gov: United States Department of State: Office of the Historian • InfoPlease.com • PBS.org • WashingtonPost.com • and other sources TODAY MAGAZINE – www.TodayPublishing.net – JULY 2024

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