Teresa Stokes
Air Show Hall of Fame Artist
Since the inception of the Air Show Hall of Fame, artist Teresa Stokes has drawn each inductee in a familiar pose or setting, from which a bronze plaque is etched. Teresa is an internationally acclaimed aviation and space artist as well as the top stuntwoman-wingwalker in the world. Teresa studied art at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Atlanta College of Art, and she researched World War II aircraft when she lived in London, where she was elected Associate Member of the Guild of Aviation Artists. Her natural born talent and formal art education, combined with an extensive aviation background, brings results that are technically accurate, detailed and realistic – yet artistically beautiful. Teresa was, of course, the logical choice for this important work.
Here, Teresa talks about her Air Show Hall of Fame art:
“In 1995, I was honored to be asked by Mr. Rick Grissom of the ICAS Foundation, to draw the portrait of the first Airshow Hall of Fame inductee, Mr. Bob Hoover. The portrait was to be a line drawing to be etched into a plaque; one to be presented to the inductee, and one for the Hall of Fame.”
“I am given several photographs of the inductee and begin by making two to four pencil ‘practice’ sketches until I get a good one. Then I begin “inking” in the drawing. I use hard, smooth, non-porous paper and Pigma Micron artist’s pens; a ‘modern-day’ version of pen-and-ink without the blobs! After the inking is completed, the pencil is erased; since this is to be an etching it must be entirely made up of solid lines.”
“I have been doing the Air Show Hall of Fame portraits ever since 1995, some years as many as five people at a time. The toughest portraits are the people that I can’t get enough good photos of. It’s hard to believe photos are so scarce of some of our Hall of Famers! And it can be challenging to find time to complete these portraits with my airshow travel. But it is also very rewarding and I am grateful to be a part of such a wonderful endeavor.”
