The 2023 Artist of the Pike lives up to her title

Ironically, Zitney’s house was probably built even before the National Road passed by her door. Norene Halvonik, a historian assigned the task of evaluating the house’s historic significance by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission when it considered possible routes for Mon-Fayette Expressway, dates the stone, two-story house to between 1800 and 1810, between one and 11 years before the start of the National Road’s construction.

In another nod to history, the property and house was once owned by Basil Brown, the brother of Thomas Brown, Brownsville’s founder.

“Historian Glenn Tunney lives next door to us and gave us several old photos of the house as well as other interesting information,” Zitney said. “After buying the house on foreclosure, my husband Steve and I spent years restoring it to its original appearance before moving in, in 2003.”

The story of how Zitney became an artist is not quite as auspicious. Always a lover of the hobby of drawing and sketching, her life took a drastic turn in 2013 when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 metastatic breast cancer that had spread to the lymph glands under her arms.

Her treatment plan encompassed 24 rounds of chemo and a lot of radiation. Over the course of her battle with cancer, she had infections in her incisions and drain, and double pneumonia.

“One year, I spent a total of 90 days in the hospital,” she said. “For three years, I spent a lot of time in bed. You’d never believe I was a runner at one time.”

Zitney said she never formally studied art but, while lying in bed, she said watched hundreds of videos on art and art technique on YouTube. A lot of her learning experience also came about through trial and error.

At first, she started by drawing with pencil and oil pastels. After her husband bought her an easel and placed it in a corner of her bedroom, she painted and still paints every day when she’s well enough.

Painting, she said, has become a passion. It lets her escape her darker moments of reality and create beauty. At the moment, she said she’s cancer free.

“Coming close to death several times and faced with my own mortality, I often paint religious or spiritual subjects, including angels,” she said. ”I also paint a lot of portraits that have included subjects like Medusa, Freda Kahlo and Neptune with his band of horses.”

In 2021, prints of her work were displayed at Main Street Gypsy in Monongahela. Over the years, Zitney said she’s sold folk art paintings on Ebay and a lot of her art on Facebook.

Some of her commissioned works are memorial paintings of loved ones, finished by using a photo of the subject as a reference. Recently, for instance, she finished and delivered a portrait of a sailor, the husband of Catherine McClean Curtis of California, who commissioned the work after seeing a Zitney painting on Facebook.

Bonnie Deems, a Brownsville Area Revitalization Corporation board member, recommended Zitney for the position of this year’s Artist of the Pike. Patrick Daugherty, director of the Melega Museum, contacted Zitney and asked her to send him copies of her work.

“After coming to my house for another look at my paintings, he said I’d be this year’s Artist of the Pike,” Zitney said.

For the exhibition at the Melega Museum, Zitney plans to exhibit 23 paintings. All will be for sale except for 10 that are on loan from private collections.

Like Frank Melega, Daugherty said Zitney is a self-taught artist.

“Her paintings often portray people, focusing on their faces, and she has a passion for painting, an interest that came from a personal experience,” he said. “Her artwork depicts a variety of portraits, fantasy, mythology, women’s issues, and the human condition.”

“Being self-taught these days is very different from the days of Mr. Melega because now, anytime of the day, you can learn about all types of painting techniques on the internet,” he added. “Jeannine is a dedicated student, and her work continues to improve. You do learn to paint by painting, and Jeannine has the work ethic needed to be a successful artist. This includes selling her artworks, including commissions. Jeannine’s story is compelling, her painting style is robust, her artwork is inspiring. She a fitting choice for the 2023 Artist of the Pike.”

The exhibit of the 2023 Artist of the Pike paintings will open with a reception from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at the Frank L. Melega Art Museum, 69 Market St., Brownsville. Regular hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Phone 724-785-9331 for more information, or visit www.melegaartmuseum.org.