By Katharine Armbrester
Photos by Blair Ramsey
When Kelly Entrekin Debeljuh began teaching art workshops in Croatia, she was still actively learning the language, but the transplanted southerner still found ways to make friends.
“Art is a universal language,” Kelly says. “I’ve been able to connect with people even without words.”
Along with the unwavering support of family and friends, a small discovery also helped her transition to a new country. She was thrilled to learn of Ćevapi, which are savory, seasoned ground meat sticks.
“I found out that they’re the equivalent of the American hot dog,” the Alabama-born artist laughs.
A Shelby County native, Kelly is the eldest daughter of nine children in the Entrekin family, and she grew up in the Oak Mountain and Brook Highland area. Her love of art eventually led to teaching homeschoolers when she was 17 and pursuing an advanced art degree.
At Belhaven University in Mississippi, Kelly met Josip Debeljuh, who came from Croatia on a full basketball scholarship. Their romance blossomed even after she transferred to the University of Montevallo, where she graduated in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in art. Kelly and Josip married the same year and now have five children.
“All of my kids have enjoyed drawing and making art,” she says.
In 2008, the couple returned to Croatia as missionaries with their young family, and soon after, she began thinking of ways she could use her artistic skills to complement her family’s church ministry in Zagreb, the nation’s capital.
Growing up in the Birmingham area, Kelly visited the studio of Wendy LoVoy, founder of the immensely popular Sips n Strokes workshops. Kelly carefully observed how Wendy kept the environment of her workshops relaxed and simple, with the required supplies laid out beforehand and a step-by-step painting goal.
“Oh, how cool,” she thought after meeting Wendy. “I would love to do something like this someday.”
After moving to Croatia, Kelly noted a lack of art clubs geared toward women, particularly busy mothers like herself who wanted to spend a creative evening with friends. Inspired by Wendy’s model, Kelly decided to bring art, fun and Southern hospitality to Zagreb.
When she began her “Coffee and Paintbrush” workshops, she predominantly taught in English.
“I was still learning the Croatian words for paintbrush, canvas, brushstrokes,” she says.
Now, she teaches most of her classes in Croatian, an intricate Slavic language.
Kelly’s workshops are usually comprised of 8 to 12 women, and she estimates that she’s taught upwards of 300 students since she began teaching in 2011. Generally, half of her students are Croatian, and the other half are Americans or people from other countries who either married a Croatian citizen or moved to the country for jobs.
“Along with teaching, my other goal is encouragement,” she says. “I want to encourage each person at their own level, and point out what they can be proud of in their painting.”
She believes that her workshop participants appreciate the laid-back atmosphere and feel free to talk to each other, whether they are close friends or strangers.
“I believe it’s important to be a learner, to ask questions and be humble while learning about other cultures,” Kelly says.
Kelly’s students not only learn art from her, but they also learn about Southern culture and hospitality when she hosts workshops in her home.
“In the South, in general, we have a really kind, helpful, respectful way of living—it’s a little bit slower,” she says, later adding, “Croatian women have responded to how I’ve tried to be hospitable and encouraging.”
No mistakes can be made in Kelly’s workshops, where fun memories and meaningful relationships are crafted along with a work of art.
“Along with evangelism and discipleship, I use my art workshops as a way to meet people and develop friendships, and it’s a way that we can connect more with the community,” she says. “Sometimes we can show each other things through art so that we leave our time together feeling mutually encouraged.”
Kelly’s own art has been influenced by her time in Croatia, in part by the resourcefulness that is integral to the country’s folk art tradition.
“There’s a lot of creativity in the culture [from] how they arrange flowers and the care they take with decorating their gardens and using recycled materials to create boundaries or decorations,” she says.
Croatia has hundreds of islands, and its shoreline is craggy and often bordered with pine trees. In contrast to the Gulf Coast’s creamy white sands, Croatian beaches are strewn with colorful stones which Kelly delights in collecting on excursions with her family.
“My favorite aspect of Croatia is the beautiful sea,” she says, and the country’s distinctive beaches have inspired her choice of art mediums and subjects.
Before long, Kelly says she noticed pebbles and sea glass that had geometric shapes, and she began crafting sustainable works of art that depict Croatia’s beaches—all delicately assembled from pebbles and bits of driftwood, sea glass and shells.
“It’s like painting,” she explains of her cherished art form. “With little pieces of color.”
She calls her mixed-media creations “mosaic paintings,” and for the past 10 years, she has rendered both Croatian seascapes and landscapes. Echoing Claude Monet, Kelly often creates day and night versions of a particular view, and both native Croatians and her American friends are delighted by her pictures.
Her mosaic paintings make perfect souvenirs, and her Etsy shop has customers from as far away as Australia.
“I think it’s neat that I can send people from around the world a little piece of Croatia,” Kelly says, happily.
Teaching her workshops over the years, Kelly has been open about dealing with homesickness and the painstaking process of learning a difficult language. With her emotional sincerity comes great warmth and a heart that reaches out to her students.
“I am aware that I may be the only American some of my students or some people here have ever met,” she says.
“So, I want to be a good representative of the country I come from. As a follower of Jesus, I also represent my faith…I want to be a positive example—honest and humble—to admit when I don’t understand, or make a mistake or do something wrong and that I want to do better.”
When her students arrive for a Coffee and Paintbrush workshop, Kelly hopes they are reassured that “in our lives, we may feel inadequate or think we lack skill, but we all have the ability to create beautiful and meaningful pieces of art.”
In both her art and in her workshops, imperfection is an invitation to connect. With her artistic talents, Southern-bred friendliness and authentic faith, Kelly illustrates what can be done when you look for the beautiful in unexpected places.
Those interested in following Kelly’s career can follow her on Facebook (Art by Kelly Debeljuh). To view or purchase her artwork, visit her Etsy page (@ArtByKellyDebeljuh).
