Grafika Polska at SSA 2010

The SSA/Poland exchange Project

The Royal Scottish Academy Building
The Mound, Edinburgh

Saturday 20th February – Thursday 18th March

We would like to thank Dr Thomasz Trafas, the Consul General of Poland in Edinburgh, for his support in this project.

The 2010 show of the Society of Scottish Artists at the Royal Scottish Academy includes work by staff from the Printmaking Department of the Wroclaw Academy of Fine Arts. These prints are a welcome introduction to a department which has grown into an important centre of printmaking in Poland.

The SSA has a long-standing tradition of inviting artists from around the world to show with us in our Annual Exhibition. By exhibiting these prints from Wroclaw in Edinburgh, the SSA continues this annual event of international artistic dialogue.

For a long time art colleges in Poland used to specialise in certain fields: Warsaw was well-known for graphic design, Kraków excelled in printmaking, Lodz in tapestry, while Wroclaw Art College made its name in ceramics and glass. The College was erected in 1946 as the State Higher School of Fine Arts on the foundations of the Prussian Royal Academy of Fine Art and Architecture, which became the German Royal Academy of Art in Breslau. The College was initially forbidden to refer to its artistic heritage, which dated back for centuries.

Printmaking, which was set up as a specialisation in the Glass Department and in 1967 became an independent Department of Graphic Art, had to start anew. In 1999 the current separate Department of Printmaking was established. During the early repressive years the intended meaning of the work often had to be covert. An emphasis on technical expertise provided a way to excel, while symbolism allowed for individual expression of the contemplative nature, which is characteristic to the work of many Polish artists.

The Printmaking Department in Wroclaw has over the years grown in importance. With its dedicated staff it has embraced new printmaking techniques, including digital printing, and continued to teach and develop the more traditional methods. The works now on show are an example of a drive for technical perfection combined with a strong narrative image, which still often alludes to symbolism. Nearly all these prints are monumental in size and include all major print techniques.

The masterful etchings of Jacek Szewczyk visualise the multi-layered experience of life in a modern city. The large, elegiac mezzotints of Christoper Nowicki show abandoned machinery as near poetic signifiers of a lost world. Agata Gertchen’s lino cuts use the rhythmic shapes of the inside of a washing machine to deliniate a woman’s private space, while Margorzata Etber Warlokowska’s silkscreens are a moving allusion to the ambiguous status of production and reproduction. There is much to enjoy and admire in the work of the twelve members of the printmaking staff represented in this show. In 2011 selected members of the SSA will show their work in Wroclaw.

© Nan Mulder January 2010

Adj. Malgorzata Warlikowska

Angels, 2008, 70×100 cm, screenprint (left)  Made in China, 2008, 70×100 cm, screenprint (right)

Adj. Malgorzata Warlikowska b. 1970

Malgorzata studied at the Wroclaw Academy of Fine Art and graduated in 1996. Her works are in serigraph, linocut, serigraph on ceramics, ceramic sculpture and painting often using combinations of these techniques. She currently works in the serigraph Studio of Prof. Christopher Nowicki. Her work is frequently awarded and she has had over 50 solo exhibitions and participated in over 100 group exhibitions and competitions. Malgorzata has work in many collections at home and abroad.

Prof. Pawel Frackiewicz

The Bull, 2006, 70 x 100 cm, digital print on paper.

Prof. Pawel Frackiewicz b. 1958

Professor Frackiewicz is Vice Dean of the Department of Graphics and Media Arts at the Wroclaw Academy of Fine Art. At this time he is director of the Lithography Studio and the Digital Graphics studio. The Minister of Culture and Art and the Higher School of Fine Arts in Bratislawa awarded Prof. Frackiewicz a scholarship and he also received a Grant from the U.S. Department of State to study at the Tamarind Institute in New Mexico, U.S.A. He has had over 25 solo exhibitions and participated in more than 150 print and drawing exhibitions in Poland and abroad.

Tech. Agata Gertchen

She, 2009, 50×100 cm, Lino Cut

Tech. Agata Gertchen b. 1985

Agata received her diploma from The Wroclaw Academy of Fine Art in 2004. In 2008 she studied at the University of Wolverhampton, England as an EU Erasmus exchange student. She was awarded the position of Laboratory Assistant in 2009 in the Intaglio Studio of Prof. P Tyszkiewicz. She works mostly in linocut and mezzotint and despite her short career has already received international awards.

Prof. Christopher Nowicki

Kazimierza (top)

Entropy/Steam Drill (left) and Tractor (right), 2004, 57×71, mezzotint

Prof. Christopher Nowicki b. 1950

Professor Nowicki was born in Toledo, Ohio U.S.A. he studied at the Toledo Museum of Art School of Design 1968-1972 and the University of Washington, Seattle graduating with his MFA in 1977. In 1996 he started teaching at the Wroclaw Academy of Fine Art. Chris became a associate professor in 2006 and is now head of the Serigraph Studio. He has had over 40 solo exhibitions in Europe and abroad and participated in more than 100 international competition exhibitions. He has been invited to many conferences and symposiums. His technique of choice is mezzotint and his work is in numerous collections.

Prof Jacek Szewczyk

Greeting from Nowa Huta, 1998, intaglio (top)

Prof. Jacek Szewczyk b. 1958

Professor Szewczyk received his diploma with distinction from the State College of Higher Arts in Wroclaw in 1982. He began work at the school the same year. He works in printmaking, drawing and graphic design and is head of the Graphic Drawing Studio. Jacek has had numerous solo exhibitions and has participated in more than 120 exhibitions of prints and drawings. His work is in many collections in Poland and abroad. Professor Szewczyk has been Rector of the Academy since 2005.

Lab. Marta Kubiak

‘Rano w Tazience’ (Morning in Tazience) (top)

‘I try very hard’ (left) and ‘When she looks’ (right) – serigraphy

Lab. Marta Kubiak b. 1985

Marta studied at the Wroclaw Academy of Fine Art from 2004-2009 graduating in Graphics Design and Printmaking. She is the laboratory technician in the Serigraph Studio of Prof. Christopher Nowicki since 2009. Marta has participated in 20 competition exhibitions and has won Gran Prix and First Place awards.

Prof. Przemyslaw Tyszkiewicz

Prof. Przemyslaw Tyszkiewicz b. 1964

Professor Tyszkiewicz graduated from the State college of Higher Arts in 1990. He began his employment at the institution in 1992 and became an associate professor in 2003. He has had over 30 solo exhibitions and participated in more than 70 group exhibitions in Poland and abroad receiving many awards. Przemyslaw has work in many collections and has received numerous commissions for his etchings and aquatints. He is now head of one of the two intaglio studios.

Lab. Anita Jaskulska-Jedraszek

Lab. Anita Jaskulska-Jedraszek b. 1983

Anita finished the College of Art in Poznan, Poland and from 2005 has been studying at the Wroclaw Academy of Fine Art in the Serigraph Studio of Prof. Christopher Nowicki. She was a technical assistant during 2008-2009. Anita works in the techniques of serigraph and linocut.

Asst. Mariusz Gorzelak

Asst. Mariusz Gorzelak b. 1979

Mariusz finished his studies at the Wroclaw Academy of Fine Art in 2005. Since 2003 he has been the laboratory assistant in the studio of Prof. Andrzej Basaj and Prof. Anna Janusz-Strzyz. He has exhibited his works in over 50 exhibitions in Poland and Abroad and has received numerous awards and scholarships. He recently became the teaching assistant in the Intaglio Studio of Prof. Andrzej Basaj and Prof. Anna Janusz-Strzyz.

Asst. Anna Trojanowska

Zoom, 2009, 79×54 cm, lithograph

Asst. Anna Trojanowska b. 1978

Graduated from the Wroclaw Academy of Fine Art in 2002 and currently works as assistant tutor in the Lithograph Studio of Prof. Pawel Frackiewicz. Anna has worked extensively with Prof. Frackiewicz developing and delivering lithographic workshops and lectures in Poland and abroad. She has been awarded many grants and scholarships to continue to develop her presentations and has shown her prints in many exhibitions in Poland and abroad.

Prof. Andrzej Basaj

Prof. Andrzej Basaj b. 1943

Andrzej Basaj is the senior professor In the Printmaking Department at the Wroclaw Academy of Fine Art and Design. He began teaching at the Academy upon graduation in 1970 and is an invaluable resource of the history of Polish printmaking. He has been awarded many times and has shown his work in over 20 solo exhibitions and over 200 exhibitions of Polish Art in Poland and abroad. Andrzej is frequently invited to jury national and international competitions and is a multidimensional printmaker having worked in lithograph, serigraph, intaglio and digital techniques.

Prof. Anna Janusz-Strzyz

Prof. Anna Janusz-Strzyz b. 1968

Anna Graduated from the State College of Higher Arts In Wroclaw in 1994. From 1995 to 2004 she was employed as assistant tutor in the Intaglio Studio of Prof. Andrzej Basaj becoming an associate professor in 2005. Anna’s technique of choice is drypoint but she also works in aquatint and linocut. She has had more than 20 solo exhibitions and presented her work in over 40 national and international competitions and exhibitions winning many awards. She is now Head of the Introductory Printmaking studio.

 

SSA Scotland/Poland Exchange

Opportunity For SSA Members

The SSA will be curating an exhibition of members’ work to travel to Wroclaw. The exhibition will concentrate on original prints and artist’s books. Further details, including submission and selection process, will be posted as they become available.

Click here for further information.