Address: Champaign, Illinois

Websites: www.elkadesigns.com and www.art4e.org

E-mail: elka@elkadesigns.com

Present - Ph.D. candidate, Education, University of Illinois (focus on empowerment through art)

1995 - M.A. Art Education, University of Illinois

1993 - M.F.A. Graphic Design, University of Illinois

1984 - B.F.A. Textile Design and Graphic Design, Academy of Fine Arts, Lodz, Poland

Specialized Training
2003 - Certified Art Instructor, Art as healing tool for battered women, A Window Between Worlds, Venice, CA

Teaching
2010 - Art Facilitator, Illini Art Therapy Association-Student Organization, University of Illinois
2004-08 - Founding Director of Art for Empowerment Program, The Women’s Center, Carbondale, Illinois
2007 - Art for Empowerment Instructor, Continuing Education, John A. Logan College, Carterville, Illinois
2006-08 - Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Art and Design, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
1996-2003 - Illustration Program Head, Assistant Professor, University at Buffalo, New York

Editorial Illustration and Design
2006 - Publisher, designer, editor, 32-page, full-color publication: Art of Survival: Women, Healing, and the Arts
1997-99 - Director of Illustration, Free Inquiry - The International Secular Humanist Magazine, Buffalo, New York
1985-2008 - Freelance designer/illustrator, selected clients: Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, Illinois; Atwood Publishing, Michigan, Wisconsin; Righteous Babe Records, Buffalo, New York; North Vancouver Arts Council, N. Vancouver, BC, Canada, Wydawnictwo Lodzkie (Lodz Press), Lodz, Poland

Selected Curatorial
2009 - Juror, The Emotional Body, art competition, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2007 - Curator, Art for Empowerment: Healing Through Art, traveling exhibition of transformative art by survivors of trauma and abuse, The Women’s Center, Carbondale, Illinois
2000 - Curator and Co-juror, Eyes Wide Open: Artist's Perception of Conflict in Contemporary Society, art competition - catalog, Art Department Gallery, University at Buffalo, New York

I have been making linoleum prints and artist’s books of visual typography for over two decades. The time it takes to carve meticulous figurative designs or carefully chisel visual typography is my personal time for self-reflection, meditation, and empowerment. Thematically, my works explore the oppression and marginalization of women. I use the feminine body as a signifier of patriarchy, its abuses and the struggle against it. I use compositional and figurative dramatizations to express emotional states and explore issues of displacement, loss, transformation, and individuation in women’s lives. The air of woman’s existence in many of those works is warped by the dramatic gestures and the screams shrouded by silence of a printed image.

I combine printmaking with fiber art to bridge fine arts and the tradition of women’s work. I use stitching as a drawing method to communicate emotional states and identities.

Stylistically, I am fascinated by images that do not quickly disclose themselves and capture attention for the time required to interpret them. Interplay of positive and negative shapes I find pregnant with peculiar beauty that leads me to create images that echo German expressionism and cave painting.

Solo Shows

2009
The Emotional Body, quilted linocuts and books, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Heal Your Soul: Art for Empowerment, linocuts and fiber, The Women’s Resources Center, University of Illinois

2005/06
I Wish She Was Dead, visual poetry and digital collage, Rosetta Stone Bookstore, Carbondale, Illinois

2005
Breaking the Silence: One Woman's Tale of Survival, printmaking and fiber art, Associated Artists’ Gallery, Carbondale, Illinois
Images That Speak, printmaking and fiber art, Art Lovers Trading Post, Carbondale, Illinois

1987
Dream Landscapes, works on paper, Piwnica: Gallery of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers, Lodz, Poland

Selected Juried Group Shows

2008
The 13th International Print Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan - catalog
The 13th International Triennial of Small Graphic Forms, jurors: a forum of international printmakers, Villa Gallery, Lodz, Poland - catalog
Contemporary Women Artists Exhibition XIV, juror: Judy Onofrio, organized by The St. Louis Chapter of the Women's Caucus for Art, Mad Art Gallery, St. Louis, MO - catalog
Refusing to Look Away: Bearing Witness to Violence, curator: Robin Lowe, Director of the University Art Gallery, Missouri State University Gallery, Springfield, Missouri

2007
Speak Up St. Louis: the American Democracy Project, curator: Michael Crane, Director of the Art Center Gallery at Central Missouri State University, Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis, MO

2006
Raise Your Voice: the American Democracy Project, juror: Michael Crane, Director of the Art Center Gallery, Central Missouri State University, Werrensburg, Missouri - CD-ROM catalog
National Juried Exhibition of Book Arts, juror: Lynda Corey Claassen, Director of Mandeville Special Collections Library-UCSD, University of California, San Diego Libraries, La Jolla, California - purchase
Here Comes The Bride, juror: Beate Minkovski, Executive Director at Woman Made Gallery, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
The Printed Image, juror: Susan Hover Oehme, Riverhouse Editions Master Printer, Eleanor Bliss Center for the Arts at the Depot, Steamboat Springs, Colorado - 3rd Place Cash Award
3rd Biennial National Print Exhibition, juror: David Christiana, Professor of Art; University of Arizona, Tuscon, Northern Arizona University Art Museum, Flagstaff, Arizona
I Have a Dream, juror: John Pitman Weber, co-founder of the Chicago Public Art Group and Director of Exhibitions Program at Elmhurst College, A.R.C. Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Layered, Stitched, Assembled, jurors: Phil Robinson, Assistant Professor, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Denise Ward-Brown, Associate Professor, Washington University School of Art, Art St. Louis Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri

2005
The 12th International Triennial of Small Graphic Forms, Villa Gallery, Lodz, Poland - catalog
Paper Politics, Socially Responsible Printmaking, juror: Joseph Pentheroudakis of Seattle Print Arts, Phinney Center Gallery, Seattle, Washington, on-going traveling exhibition - catalog
National Exhibition of Socially Responsible Art: The Chicago Solution Show, juror: James Rondeau, Curator of Contemporary Art at The Art Institute of Chicago, ARC Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
WordArt–National Juried Competition, organized by Cincinnati Book Arts Society, jurors: Gary Gaffney, Kelly Malec-Kosak, Art Academy of Cincinnati, University Galleries on Sycamore, Cincinnati, Ohio
The 4th International Columbia Book and Paper Arts Triennial, jurors: Wilber Schilling, Giselle Simon, Lynn Sures, paper arts professionals, Center for Book and Paper Arts, Columbia College Chicago, Illinois
20 Years of The Intensive Spirit: The International Juried Exhibition of Book Arts and Paper Constructions, juror: Laura Wait, book artist, Eleanor Bliss Center for the Arts at the Depot, Steamboat Springs, Colorado - 2nd Place Cash Award

2003
Prints USA 2003, Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, Michigan
Draw the Line, organized by Crisis Services of Buffalo and related institutions, Hallwalls: Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo, New York – 2nd Place Cash Award

2002
Prevailing Human Spirit, National Illustration Exhibition, curator: the Society of Illustrators of NYC, Society of Illustrators, NYC

2001
16th Annual National Works on Paper, juror: Richard Ash, Chair of the Art Program at Midwestern State University in Wichita Fallas, TX, University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, Texas

1999
Convergence '99: Western New York Art Competition, Carnegie Art Center, N. Tonawanda, New York - Honorable Mention

1997
13th Mini Print International Exhibition, juror: Bruce North, past Director of Brooklyn Museum Art School, Yager Museum at Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY, 1997, touring exhibition through 1999

1998
Printmakers '98: The 2nd Biennial Juried Exhibit of Contemporary Original Prints, juror: Jane Glaubinger, curator of prints at Cleveland Museum of Art, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia
Poverty: National Works on Paper, juror: Catherine Valenza, Director of Collections and exhibitions of The Islip Art Museum, St. John's University Gallery, Jamaica, New York
50-years of Israel: The National Art Exhibition, juror: Susana Viola Jacobson, Jewish Community Center, New Haven, CT - Merit Award

1997
The 16th Annual HOYT National Art Exhibition, juror: Gerald Meadow, Director of the Artplace in SoHo–NYC, New Castle, Philadelphia - Merit Award
5th Annual National Art Exhibition, juror: Elizabeth Licata, curator at the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, Carnegie Art Center, N. Tonawanda, New York

1990
Exchange Exhibition of Painting and Printmaking from Lodz and Torun, BWA Gallery, Torun, Poland

1989
Artists Against War, Against Violence, and for Peace, organized by XYLON-German Chapter, shown simultaneously in Paris, Berlin, and Warsaw

1988
Arsenal ’88: National Exhibition of Young Art, Hala Gwardii, Warsaw, Poland – catalog

1987
International Triennial of Small Graphic Forms, BWA Gallery, Lodz, Poland - catalog

1986
Spring Salon, BWA Gallery, Lodz, Poland - catalog

1985
National J. Gielniak Memorial Graphic Competition, BWA Gallery, Jelenia Gora, Poland - catalog, Honorable Mention

2009
Special Assistance Grant, Illinois Arts Council
Feminist Exhibition Scholarship, Gender and Women's Studies, University of Illinois
One State: Together in the Arts Scholarship, Illinois Arts Alliance

2007
Exhibition Grant, Marion Carnegie Library, Marion, Illinois
Exhibition Grant, A Window Between Worlds, Venice, California

2006
Grant, The Puffin Foundation, New Jersey
Special Assistance Grant, Illinois Arts Council
Mini-Grant, Illinois Humanities Council
Southern Arts Fund Grant, Carbondale Community Arts, Illinois Arts Council

2005
Program Grant, A Window Between Worlds, Venice, California
Southern Arts Fund Grant, Carbondale Community Arts, Illinois Arts Council

1998
Publication fee waiver, Editorial Board, New Art International, New York: Book Art Press

1987-88
Individual Artists Fellowship, Polish Ministry of Culture and Art

National Library, Collection of Prints, Warsaw, Poland
Holocaust Museum at Majdanek, Lublin, Poland
Print Collection, The New York Public Library, New York
Poetry Collection, University at Buffalo, New York
Special Collections Library, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Book Arts Collection, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
Artists' Book Collection, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
Rare Book Collection, University of California San Diego, La Jolla
Rare and Special Book Collection, University of California, Los Angeles
Rare and Special Book Collection, University of California, Santa Cruz
Rare and Special Book Collection, University of California, Irvine
Special Collections, San Jose University, California
Special Collections, University of Colorado
PABA Gallery, Branford, Connecticut

Publications
Art of Survival: Women, Healing, and the Arts, Elka Books, Carbondale, IL 2006 (ISBN -13: 978-0-9778478-0-8)
Remembering 9/11 Through the Eyes of a Printmaker, Robert Viana, 2007, pp. 48, 49

Bibliography
2009 - Heartland Women, feature, Carbondale, IL, Nov. 16, pp. 11, 13, and 16
2005 - The Southern Illinoisan, review, Sept. 4, 1D, 3D
2005 - Heartland Women, review, Carbondale, IL, Sept. 8, p. 23
2000 - Buffalo News, review, December 1, p. N/A
1999 - Buffalo News, review, Feb. 12, p. 18
1997 - Artvoice, review, Buffalo, NY, Vol. 8, No. 25, June 25, p. 7
1996 - Artvoice, review, Buffalo, NY, Oct. 30, p.14
1988 - Sztuka Polska (Polish Art), review, (Monthly Art Journal, Pazdziernik/October), p. 12

Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, Oregon
Vamp and Tramp Booksellers and Califia Books, Birmingham, Alabama
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