A number of our class members are artists, working in various media. One of them, Stoyan Dulgeroff, uses a simple tool—a collection of Sharpie pens—to turn out works that are often anything but simple: brilliantly colored and sometimes extraordinarily intricate drawings.
He began creating his drawings about 20 years ago and has now done over 100. Self-taught, his art came about as the result of pain from medical issues caused by exposure to Agent Orange when he served in Vietnam in the 1970’s.
Stoy says, “In the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep, I started doing what is now considered my art. All of what I draw just happens as I draw it.” Of one especially detailed drawing he commented, “This one got me through 30 hours of pain.” He adds, “Sometimes my mind won’t rest” and he’ll start a new drawing as soon as the previous one is finished.
Stoy says he’s not sure that he has a “style”, and his drawings can vary from a simple image in one or two colors on a white background to extremely complex designs using dozens of colors. The most detailed can take as long as 25 to 30 hours to complete.
He occasionally posts a picture of a new work in the class Facebook group and draws comments like the ones from Patricia Schneider Mannor (“YOU’VE GOT TALENT!!!”); Monique Scanio Doherty (“Stoy, that is incredible. Such intricate detail and colors beautifully coordinated!’); and Barb Kendall Souza (“Wow!!!! Gorgeous!!!!”).
Stoy has been generous in gifting his work. One of his paintings is on permanent display in the main meeting room of the Lynn Cancer Institute in Boca Raton where he was treated in 2020. He wrote, ‘I am so proud that everyone will see it as they pass through on their cancer journey.”
Some of you who took Spanish will remember Stoy’s wife, Nancy, as Señorita Fuog at Ann Arbor High. She’s an artist in her own right, a gifted potter. They have made their home in Florida for many years and are in touch with some of our Class of 65ers there. They have a son, Stoyan, and daughter, Anne-Marie, with six grandchildren, a great-grandson and another on the way in April.
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