Kalina Winska Artwork Chosen for Masur Museum Exhibition

VALDOSTA — Kalina Winska will represent Valdosta State University — and all of South Georgia — at the Masur Museum of Art’s 51^st Annual Juried Competition. This year’s show, which runs through Saturday, June 14, features 79 artworks by artists from 30 states, including four from Georgia.

Winska, who joined the VSU Department of Art faculty in August 2012, said, “I was extremely happy to hear that my art piece was included in the museum exhibition. The work that was chosen is a small painting, which consists of pearl-like strands formed into symmetrical shapes, placed in a cradle panel, filled with translucent resin. This work is very subtle and requires special lighting to present its true nature. … I am really grateful that the juror noticed and was intrigued by my humble painting. The acceptance of my work validates my professional efforts and encourages me to develop further my ideas in art.”

Located in the city of Monroe, the Masur Museum of Art is described as the largest collecting and exhibiting institution of modern and contemporary art in Northeast Louisiana. Its annual juried competition showcases contemporary artists across the United States of America working in any medium.

Artists applying to the Masur Museum of Art’s 51^st Annual Juried Competition were selected by Kelly Shindler, a Missouri-based curator who has worked in the field of contemporary art exhibition and programming for more than a decade. Ben Hickey, curator of collections and exhibitions at the museum, noted, in an email to Winska, that Shindler had an extremely difficult time narrowing down the submissions for the exhibit. Awards will be presented during a reception from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 15.

Growing up in Poland, Winska developed a passion for the arts, particular drawing. In 2007, she received a Socrates-Erasmus Scholarship to study at the Braunschweig University of Art in Braunschweig, Germany. Two years later, she earned a Master of Fine Arts in painting from the Academy of Art and Design in Wroclaw, Poland.

Winska then traveled to the United States to continue her studies at the University of Florida’s School of Art and Art History in Gainesville, Fla. She received an Alumni Fellowship in 2009, the Outstanding International Student Certificate and Dennis and Colette Campay Studio Art Scholarship in 2010, and a Materials and Fabrication Grant, Provost’s Digital Fabrication Lab Award, and James J. Rizzi Scholarship Fund in 2011. She graduated with a second Master of Fine Arts in 2012.

Winska has exhibited her works in solo and group exhibitions throughout her native country of Poland, as well as Georgia and Florida; she participated in an invitational exhibit in Detroit, Mich., in 2012. She was featured in Studio Visit magazine twice, in 2011 and 2012, and attended a residency program at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vt., in May and June 2012.   

With drawing as her chosen area of concentration and research, Winska primarily teaches foundation level and drawing courses at VSU. She enjoyed a solo exhibition of her work at the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts Price-Campbell Gallery in Valdosta from Nov. 4, 2013, to Jan. 8, 2014. During this exhibit, she kicked off The Constellation Project, a collaboration with Steven Milian of the University of Florida that allows the public to participate in the creation of a drawing, helping them to see their connection to the world around them.  

“When creating my art, I draw inspiration from observable natural phenomena, living systems, and their formation on a micro and macro scale,” according to her most recent artist statement. “The forms and structures in my works consist of repeated lines, circles, and pearl-like shapes that flow, loop, twist, collide, and fuse together, which, in turn, resemble molecules, tracks of subatomic particles, orbits, and shapes of microorganisms. These intricate patterns are carefully constructed, are often symmetrical, and imply tension between chance and structure.

“Drawing is central to my studio practice and I explore this discipline by means of abstraction. I am fascinated by the idea of drawing being in a constant flux, teetering on the verge between ‘becoming’ and ‘unbecoming’ and never reaching a definite form. I strive to give the viewer a visceral experience by putting emphasis on process and materials. The process of drawing allows for endless possibilities. I play with the idea that my drawing, whether it is made of graphite on paper, glue, or plastic resin floating off the wall, can resemble something other than its material identity. The constant shift between the literal and the illusion intrigues me.” 

Winska will spend part of the upcoming summer focusing on developing her two-dimensional works and installations. She recently received word that she had been accepted to the Crooked Tree Arts Center Artist Residency Program in Petoskey, Mich., and the Atlantic Center for the Arts Master Artist-in-Residence Program in New Smyrna Beach, Fla. With the former, she will spend two weeks meeting new people as she builds her portfolio and engages in an educational experience in the Northern Michigan arts community. With the latter, she will enjoy three weeks of artistic regeneration and creation as she lives, works, and collaborates with artists from different disciplines and master artist Mildred Howard of Berkeley, Calif.    

Kalina Winska can be contacted at (229) 333-5836 or kmwinska@valdosta.edu for more information.

On the Web:

http://www.kalinawinska.com/

http://www.valdosta.edu/colleges/arts/art/

https://www.crookedtree.org/ctac-artist-residency-program/

http://www.atlanticcenterforthearts.org/master-artist-residence-program

http://www.atlanticcenterforthearts.org/mildred-howard-visual-artist

Valdosta State University’s 2013-2019 Strategic Plan represents a renewal of energy and commitment to the foundational principles for comprehensive institutions.

Implementation of the plan’s five goals, along with their accompanying objectives and strategies, supports VSU’s institutional mission and the University System of Georgia’s mission for comprehensive universities.

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