Theresa Kasun (Born 1965) won her first art contest in kindergarten. She was selected to paint on stage at a big assembly in her school. In the 4th grade she won a poster contest. The theme had to be about the anniversary of airplanes and, as the winner, she was awarded with an airplane ride. It was her very first time in a plane and she says it was a thrill to fly right over her house. Art is something that runs in the family, her mother, Joy, is also a gifted artist, and on vacations, the two usually set up easels side by side in her mother’s studio. The Arts and creativity were a part of the Kasun family while Theresa was growing up. She studied Painting and Design at the Kansas City Art Institute. The Impressionistic style that she exhibits came from Prof. Wilber Niewald, the well known painting Professor.
The professor taught them every aspect of Impressionism. Why they painted, what color palettes they used, and how they painted. As a student in Niewald’s class they had a painstaking program of constantly training their eyes to paint and draw what they saw in reality. Theresa graduated with a BFA in May of 1988. Upon graduating, she moved to Chicago where she worked at Luna Productions as an assistant art director. This was an advertising agency in Naperville. After some time she realized that this was not her calling, so she took up another job of creating window designs and dressing mannequins at the Jones Store in Kansas City. Later on, after finishing her MFA, she found a passion for painting still lives and sharpened her skills as a painter.
