Joyce Birkenstock: Kathakali Paintings

©Joyce Birkenstock-All Rights Reserved

Joyce Birkenstock is a remarkable artist and photographer, and a peripatetic international traveler who visited most countries of the world. She received her training at the University of Dallas, the University of Iowa, the Norton Art School, the Art Students League, and the Vermont Studio Center, and her awards, achievements and professional affiliations are too many to list here.

She traveled on most of my photo expeditions, and I take much pleasure in featuring three of her superb paintings of Kathakali actors. The paintings are inspired by, and based on, her own photographs made during our private photo-shoot in Thrissur, during the Theyyams of Malabar photo-expedition which I organized and led in February.

I can still hear Joyce's exclamations of wonder as she photographed these actors while they were dressing up for the performance. She must have been visualizing her paintings as she clicked the shutter!

More of Joyce's work can be seen on Artistic Journeys