By Keysha Drexel
Journal editor
A birthday present from her husband five years ago led a Vestavia Hills attorney to hang up her briefcase and take up a paintbrush.
Libby Pantazis received painting lessons from her husband as a gift and loved it so much, she retired in 2010 from Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantazis, where she practiced civil rights law. Now she is focused full time on a career as a visual artist.
At first glance, her former career as an attorney seems diametrically opposed to her new venture as an artist, but Pantazis insists they really are not all that different.
“I always thought creatively and wrote interesting briefs when I was a practicing attorney. I was the one that the other people in the firm would come to when they needed to think out of the box or when they needed a different perspective,” she said. “Now, I have just transferred my creative writing talent to oils on canvas.”
Pantazis’ oil paintings of bicycles and boats, pitchers and popsicles and pomegranates and people can be seen at Arceneaux Art Gallery in Homewood as a part of the annual ArtWalk Sept. 6-7 in Birmingham. She’s affiliated with the Mountain Brook Art Association and the Birmingham Art Association and has had her paintings in shows at Indian Springs School, Littlehouse Gallery and the 2011 Decorators’ ShowHouse. She’s also participated in the Birmingham Art Association’s Village Art Festival and the Mountain Brook Art Association’s spring and holiday shows.
“It’s been a real whirlwind, but that’s typical for me,” she said. “I tend to jump into things feet first.”
Shortly after her first painting lessons, Pantazis said, she began immersing herself in studying painting.
“I took a two-week workshop in France and signed up for every opportunity to study, whether it was local or in California. I traveled to Spain and New York and just soaked up as much as I could,” she said. “It was a quick education, but I’ve been very serious about it.”
That mix of seriousness and creativity is something Pantazis said has always been her hallmark.
“Even as a child, I was the debater, but I was very creative at the same time. I knew I wanted to go to law school as early as the ninth grade, but as soon as I got home from school every day, I was off to tap or ballet classes,” she said.
Even with the hectic schedule of a law student, Pantazis said she didn’t let her need to be creative fall by the wayside.
“I was dancing in a ballet and I had my law books backstage so that I could study during rehearsal breaks,” she said.
While she was in law school in Mississippi, she met Dennis Pantazis, and the two were married in 1981.
“Dennis is from Birmingham, so we made this our home,” she said.
The couple raised three sons. One son practices law alongside his father at Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantazis, and another just graduated from law school.
But just because she was juggling a career as an attorney and raising a family doesn’t mean Pantazis ever let her creative spark die.
“It was quite the opposite, really. I found that having children opened up an entirely new way for me to be creative. I had a blast painting with them when they were growing up and taking them to art museums and different art events,” she said. “I say that if you can check your child out of school and take them to the symphony, do it.”
Pantazis said she feels it is important to nurture creativity in all children whether they want to grow up to be engineers or actors.
“All of my boys are still creative in their own way, and I think they all have an appreciation for the arts,” she said. “It’s something I tried to instill in them as they were growing up and finding out what interested them.”
Her husband and her sons are her biggest fans, Pantazis said, and she trusts them to give their honest opinions of her artwork.
“They are very supportive and give me ideas all the time. They critique my work, and I trust their opinions,” she said.
Pantazis said she loves painting with oils because of the depth of the colors and light she is able to create in that medium.
At the moment, she’s painting lots of bicycles, boats and buildings.
“It’s really an obsession. Some of that is trying to get it right, and some of it is an appreciation of what you’re painting,” she said. “I love the curves of a boat and how the light reflects on the water when you’re in a boat. It takes me back to my childhood.”
Pantazis’ childhood was spent at military bases all over the country. She was born in Alaska and finished high school in Jackson, Miss.
“I say I’m from Jackson, Mississippi, knowing full well that I’m really an Army brat,” she said with a laugh.
Pantazis said she used to research the places she would live as a child and that those skills have served her well as both an attorney and an artist.
“Of course, with law, research is a huge part of it, but I’ve also found that I love to research the buildings that I paint. When I was practicing law, my research had to be pure with no shortcuts with everything documented, and I’m the same way when I’m doing research for a painting,” she said.
Pantazis said she tries to paint every day, and if she doesn’t, she will feel that pull toward the canvas.
“It’s like an itch that you just have to get. You have this idea and you have to put it down on the canvas, and then you feel absolutely wonderful,” she said.
Pantazis is getting ready to exhibit her paintings at the 2013 ArtWalk in Birmingham Sept. 6-7 at the Legg Loft.
She also has a new website where art patrons can browse through some of her work. For more information, visit libbypantazis.com.
