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Pienkow 2005 International Art Workshop

The 2005 Pienkow International Art Workshop winner is already known. Lukasz Huculak from Wroclaw, Poland won the 1st prize. Martyna Zoltaszek, also from Wroclaw, was the distinguished winner of artistic scholarship to the USA.
The jury was composed of Dr. Marek Pienkowski, Prof. Zbigniew Gorlak, Prof. Stanislaw Baj, Prof. Piotr Kielan, Prof. Thomas J. Riesing, Oganes Kazarian and Julien Beneyton.

This year we guested in Pienkow the artists - alumni of:
Wroclaw School of Fine Arts, Poland http://www.asp.wroc.pl
Dagmara Angier, Lukasz Huculak, Dorota Keder
Florence School of Fine Arts, Italy http://www.accademia.firenze.it
Romina Santucci
and University of Tennessee in Knoxville, USA http://www.utk.edu
Stacey Fletcher, Samuel C. Lucchesi, Anna Scarbrough

About the Workshop
Presenting the participants of the Pienkow 2005 International Art Workshop

Let me start with Dagmara. During the workshop she was busy both painting and making photos. She started by taking notice of a rather special staircase in the underground of Chelm. Her brandsign are compositions of paintings and collage's made of old sack material and rope. The compositions carry stamps "made in Pienkow / Angier" - a small joke by Dagmara.
Martyna is the winner of the artistic scholarship of dr Marek M. Pienkowski. Her passion for painting was stimulated by the broad and open countryside of Chelm. The paintings of Martyna are crazy, full of colour and content. She helped herself with some collage work as well - colourful pieces of paper make up for the landscape of Uher and the most unusual representations of animals seen in the country. The graceful style of Martyna would make fantastic children book pictures.
Dorota arrived to Uher with an idea on her mind. Usually, she is inspired by group photos of family gatherings. She neglects the details in favor of the general impression and composition. Her work on the photo which she brought was influenced by particular places and events of the workshop. The resulting paintings turned out to be very artistic and well designed.
Lukasz - the winnner of the workshop - admires the style of Italian Reinessance. The life is slow as the time seems to be frozen on his pictures of the "landscape", which are often painted from the viewpoint of a cartographer. The brandsign of his art is the chalk backing which gives the impression of an uneven, grainy surface of the structures on the pictures, and accounts for the special misty light conditions.
The technique is of great importance to Romina as well. The "organic", abstract compositions tend to grow circularly onto square canvas. This is the result of the artists interest in modern biology and genetics. For Romina, creating art is a way of experiencing the laws of nature, discovering the ways of the universe and the truth about herself.
The paintings of Stacey are vibrant with lively colours and reflect her passion for leaving signs and traces of herself. They are abstract for the viewer yet full of references to personal experiences of the author. The language of methafor allows her to express the joy of herself and the joy of encounter at a given time and place, e.g. through the ever returning motive of the open cage.
Samuel also reckons his paintings as a metaphore. He emphasizes the importance of the thinking process associated with creativity. He is especially interested in linear objects - see his work reminiscent of the Majdanek visit. Sam is convinced that art is a great way to study the world but not himself. This might be the reason for the random character of the impressions we experience.
Anna is not atracted by standard painting techinques. She is intrigued by the structure and the functions of the human body. She created a composition of pieces of waxed paper imitating skin, covered by monochromatic texture symbolising the cells and white thread being the muscles of the body. The artist emphasizes the fragrance of the natural bee wax which she uses for her "organic compositions".
During the meeting of the participants with Dr. Marek M. Pienkowski, the founder and sponsor of the workshops, one of the artists compared the great work undertaken by Dr. Pienowski to the idea of the founder of the city of Zamosc (the reneissance citté ideale) - chancellor Jan Zamoyski. Summarizing the most recent workshop in Uher and Pienkow one has to admit that investing into the development of young and talented artists is indeed a task worthy a Man of Renessaince. Apart from the very real support in the form of creating good working conditions, stimulating artistic development and funding of the scholarships and prizes, the two week stay in the countryside of Chelm will have some more pronounced bearing on the artists. Our guests Anna, Stacey, Romina and Samuel will become natural ambassadors of the Polish culture in Europe and across the ocean.
We all wish them to be the best ambassadors possible...

Dominika Leszczynska