Cover photo for TF Poduska's Obituary
TF Poduska Profile Photo
1925 TF 2015

TF Poduska

December 6, 1925 — December 30, 2015

TF (Thelma Fleming) Poduska Born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on December 6th, 1925 to Everett Arthur Fleming and Vessie Mitchell Fleming. Three older sisters preceded her in death. ""It is funny I didn't choose to be an artist. Drawing and painting was just something I did. In third grade I had so many pictures hung about the room and I signed them TF, the teacher started to call me TF and I've been TF ever since."" She became a telephone operator during World War II while completing her senior year in high school and continued working for Northwestern Bell through her college years at Iowa State Teachers College. With a BA degree in Art Education she worked a year as an art supervisor for Harlan, Iowa. Married Robert Poduska in 1948 and moved to Denver, Colorado. Preferring not to teach, she worked at several jobs ending up with Mountain Bell as a service assistant. She stopped working outside the home when they were blessed to adopt and raise two wonderful daughters Ann and Sue. Sue died at 45 of breast cancer. TF's art studio was in her home to be available to help her daughters. Soon several galleries contacted her to handle her paintings. Sales and accolades followed. She worked on a unique scale doing four feet by eight feet paintings on paper as a meter of routine, using acrylic paint. In 1984 she began making large woven compositions. Always experimenting this artist's sensibility responded, primarily to nature. She let out all the stops glorying in the profusion and texture of blooming flowers, captivating the viewer with color or intriguing them with its absence. She received the Colorado Governors Award for the Arts and Humanities, 1977; Trustee Denver Art Museum 1977-1983; 1st Arts Delegation to China by People to People, 1986; Foothills Art Center Board 1990-1992; Cile Bach Volunteer Award, Denver Art Museum, 1991. Exhibitions: 1993 National Watercolor Invitational, Flagstaff, AZ; 1992 University of Texas, San Antonio, TX; 1989 Exhibition to Bombay, Barana & Medebad, India; NAWA 100 works, 100 Years Traveling EX; invited artist Watercolor USA Springfield, MO 1980; National Academy of Design, NY, NY 1979, 78, 77; American Watercolor Society NY, NY 1978, 77, 76, 74. Collections: Littleton Historical Museum, Littleton, CO; Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; Atlantic Richfield Corp; Piton Foundation; 1st National Bank, Boise, ID; Oxford Hotel, Los Angeles, CA; Waverly Hotel, Atlanta, GA; Electronic Data Systems Headquarters, Reston, VA; Symphony Towers, San Diego, CA; Pres/St. Luke's Hospital, Denver, CO; Boetcher Foundation, Denver, CO; TF has written four books on family histories for friends and two on her own family. She enjoyed the members of the two writing groups who met in her studio. Most important is her joy of having such a supportive and special partner for these 67 years. Also her life has been enriched by her sons-in-law Ed McCue and Mark Niksic, his wife Sharon a wonderful and helpful mother and grandchildren Connor and Kelton McCue, plus Shane and Kayla Niksic. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Foothills Art Center, 809 15th St., Golden, CO 80401; Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14th Ave Pkwy, Denver, CO 80204. Please share your condolences with the family by signing the guestbook below.
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