ROD OHIRA'S PEOPLE
'Zorro' fan drawn into art career
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
While channel surfing the television four years ago, Pupukea resident Kathy Nance came across a late-night rerun of Disney's "Zorro" series, which aired from 1957-59. She recognized the show's star, Guy Williams, from "Lost in Space," one of her favorite TV programs between 1965 and 1968.
Curious as to what happened to Williams, Nance checked the Internet and found a family Web site dedicated to his memory. She noted similarities between the actor and her mother, Leona Kalnasy. Theydied in 1989 and 1998, respectively. "They were born in January — he was 65, she was 64 — and both died alone, away from family, and no one knew until days later," Nance said.
Because her mother had become a Christian late in life, Nance e-mailed Williams' family and asked, "Was your father religious?" The reply noted he was Catholic.
Nance, a 44-year-old Michigan native who has lived in Hawai'i since December 1976, struck up a friendship with Williams' son and daughter. She did a graphite-pencil sketch portrait of Williams in 1999 and sent it to his family.
"From that (sketch), his fans started asking for more," Nance said. "It's amazing how many 'Zorro' and 'Lost in Space' fans he has throughout the world."
That was the start of Nance's professional career as an artist.
Since October 1999, Guy Williams Jr. has invited Nance to display her works at shows honoring his father in New Jersey, San Francisco and Hollywood.
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"It's uncanny," Williams said of the first sketch Nance sent him. "There's something about it that's almost three-dimensional. She's captured a lot of texture. Everyone who has seen it likes it."
Kathy Nance, who specializes in celebrity portraits, displays two of her works — of Tiger Woods and Duke Kahanamoku — at her residence in Pupukea.
Nance specializes in celebrity portraits. Working off photographs, the detail of her art is clean and amazingly exact.
At a local sports show, Nance stood in line and paid to have a sketch she did of retired San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana autographed. Her drawing so impressed Montana and his personal assistant, Eddie Fernandez, that they invited her to show her works at a Triumph Sports show in New Jersey.
"The first thing that struck us was it really looked like Joe," said Fernandez, director of athletes for New York-based Triumph Sports. "We see a lot of drawings of Joe at shows that make you wonder what (the artists) were looking at when they drew it. I know which photo (Nance) used, and her work was good."
Nance displayed her artwork at Triumph Sports shows in November 2000 and again in March 2001.
"She obviously has talent, and I've never heard a negative thing from celebrities about her work," Williams said.
The 5-foot-5, 115-pound Nance enjoys sports. Her participation in softball and basketball, however, predated what is now available to prep and college athletes, so she played for fun. Surfing, naturally, became a passion once she moved to Hawai'i.
"I surfed at Chun's Reef four to six hours a day," Nance said. She eventually gave it up when the sun took its toll on her skin, which had been left unprotected for years. Daily morning jogs on the beach, tennis, mountain bike riding and weightlifting satisfy her athletic needs.
But art is the talent that's been with her the longest. She did her first sketch in the second grade. Drawing is something Nance does so naturally that she never considered it to be a career opportunity.
"I love people and drawing faces," she said. "When I do the pencil drawings, I really try to make it as realistic as possible."
Nance's attention to detail is not limited to artwork. Her "compulsion to rearrange things that are out of balance" has led her to redecorate the homes of 45 friends.
To enhance her artistic interest, she's taking painting courses from James Goodman and Alan Leitner at Leeward Community College. "I paint five days a week and I love it," Nance said.
Kathy and Jim Nance, who met at North Shore Christian Fellowship Church, have been married for 23 years. They recently moved into a two-story stucco house that 52-year-old launderette owner Jim Nance, a former stockbroker and Realtor, started building seven years ago.
Until they moved into the new house, the couple lived in a "dump at Chun's Reef" without electricity for 11 years, in carports, tents and garages, all the while saving their money and soaking in the laidback North Shore lifestyle. The timing, it seems, is right for Kathy Nance to take her best shot as an artist.
Nance plans to show her work from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday at Leeward Community College's Foyer Gallery and at the Aloha Muscle & Fitness Extravaganza at Hawai'i Convention Center May 25-27. Some drawings are posted on Nance's Web site.
Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.
