Adding ‘scenic’ to the CdM 5K

Noaki Schwartz

NEWPORT BEACH -- It’s clear from the thoughtful watercolor Polly Stenler

painted to advertise the Corona del Mar Scenic 5K that art is more than

just a hobby.

The painting, which features a runner against the backdrop of the lush

Five Crowns restaurant, is being used to promote the June 3 run all

around town. Money raised from the run goes toward youth recreation

programs and the beautification of Corona del Mar.

“The people from Five Crowns had called me and asked if I’d be interested

in doing a painting on it,” she said, adding that she started at the

beginning of the year.

Best of all for Stenler, it’s already grabbed the attention of other

businesses interested in commissioning her work.

“I admire impressionists, but I’m a realist myself,” she said from her

home in Big Canyon.

The local resident and mother of three has a lengthy art background --

generations, in fact. She grew up back East, influenced by American

painter Homer Winslow, tomes of art history and most of all her parents.

Her pioneering mother, whom Stenler says got her started, opened the

first female-owned goldsmith store in New York. The metallurgist did

extraordinary work for a number of stores, Stenler remembered fondly,

including “beautifully enameled sterling silver salt and pepper shakers.”

Stenler herself started out in watercolors. Her appreciation for form and

light eventually led her into jewelry making and a job with Tiffany’s.

“It’s very hard,” Stenler said about the competitive art world, one that

first gave her the cold shoulder.

She had tremendous difficulty obtaining the recognition necessary for

consistent work, she said.

“I finally wrote a letter to Tiffany’s,” she said, recalling her

exasperation.

They phoned her, offered her a position in manufacturing and she

accepted. There, on the top floor of the building, she sat with all of

the company’s fine jewelers. She was in charge of Paloma Picasso’s work

that had just exploded onto the scene in the late 1970s with its smooth

geometric shapes.

It was there, at Tiffany’s, that she met her soon-to-be husband. After

marrying, the two moved to California to be closer to his family. It’s

been more than a decade now, and despite the demands of full-time

motherhood, Stenler still pursues her artwork.

“I still like to design jewelry,” he said. “I have a studio and try and

keep my hand in everything.”