Couple's gallery features their art
By JOSEPH M. DELEON News-Post Staff
jdeleon @ fredericknewspost . com
KNOXVILLE — It's easy to understand why Bob and Kitty Nalewaik named their home Gallery in the Woods. A forest of tulip poplars and dogwoods envelops the two-story house where Weverton and Elk Ridge mountains cradle the land against the Potomac River. The Nalewaiks started a business selling photographic prints, Silpada jewelry and handmade scarves in January after retiring
from the National Cancer Institute at Fort Detrick.
He worked as a microbiologist. She was a nurse practitioner.
“We both have backgrounds in math and science, but this is a way for us to develop our artistic sides,” Ms. Nalewaik said.
Mr. Nalewaik started taking pictures of river scenes and old barns in the 1960s.
“That's about the time when I should have been studying in graduate school,” he joked.
Many of his prints are from travels to Europe. He is fascinated by the history and architecture of Italy and Spain.
“Maybe I should have been a historian or an archaeologist. I just love slides, love to push them up on the wall,” he said as he motioned his hands to mimic an imagined panorama. “You can live vicariously through my pictures.”
One of his favorite series is from Holland.
“It's such a small country, but there is such a variety of architecture,” he said. “It makes me wonder why they did it like that or what happened to cause that kind of diversity.”
During art shows, Mr. Nalewaik displays his photographs on an oversized easel. One of his best sellers is of a flower-covered balcony in Austria.
Ms. Nalewaik grew up loving art. Her mother, a middle school art teacher in Grand Rapids, Mich., crafted plates and bowls from clay and painted flowers using watercolors and oils.
While Ms. Nalewaik never developed her mother's skill with pottery or nuance with paint, she expresses her creative side by knitting delicate webs of linen and silk threads. She uses earth tones to create a peaceful mood. Her scarves are wearable art. “When we look as best we can, you feel better about yourself,” she said. She believes mood influences health. Ms. Nalewaik's mother died in 2002 at age 97. “It made me really depressed and I went through a tough time,” she said. “The stress of losing her affected my ability to stay well.” She believes her state of mind weakened her immune system. She contracted Lyme disease the following year. “It's called the great masquerader because it presents differently in different people,” she said. “A lot of people go from doctor to doctor before they are diagnosed.” Symptoms vary from changes in vision and hearing loss to arthritis and psychological changes.
With her background as a nurse practitioner, Ms. Nalewaik started giving lectures last summer at Fort Detrick. She educates participants about preventing Lyme disease and recognizing its symptoms.
She still occasionally feels a tingling numbness in her face and stiffness in her muscles. But, she doesn't let it interfere with her knitting.
“I take supplements and try to eat well, exercise and get a good rest,” she said.
One of the next crafts she will experiment with is quilting.
“But not that traditional geometric kind. I want to do more asymmetrical modern designs,” she said.
She believes quilting will complement the open houses they plan to hold three or four times a year. The first one in January grossed about $2,700.
The Nalewaiks also dream about erecting a separate building in the forested portion of their three acres. The metal and stone building would truly be a gallery in the woods.
“But then I think about all the building permits and trees we'd have to knock down, and I wonder if we have the best of both worlds right here,” Ms. Nalewaik said.