Kalina Winska Shares the Power of Drawing in Latest Exhibit

VALDOSTA — Kalina Winska believes drawing is more than the fundamental skill of the visual arts. She believes drawing is a powerful means of bringing many different people together and helping them to see their connection to the world around them.

From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 4, Winska will celebrate the opening of a solo exhibition in the Price-Campbell Foundation Gallery at the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts. The exhibit will run through Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014.

“Kalina Winska: New Works” features a couple of different bodies of work that the artist created within the last year, including a wall installation piece, monoprints, paintings, and drawings in graphite and silverpoint. 

“It is going to be a very exciting exhibition …,” said Winska, who joined the Valdosta State University Department of Art faculty in August 2012.

In the midst of her “Kalina Winska: New Works” exhibit, the artist will kick off The Constellation Project, a collaboration with scientist Steven Milian of the University of Florida that allows the public to participate in the creation of a drawing.

During the opening reception on Monday evening, everyone in attendance will have the opportunity to express their unique thoughts and emotions through concentric marks drawn directly on the wall in the gallery, Winska said. Each participant will finish his or her drawing by connecting it to a neighboring drawing with a line, she added.  

“Drawing is an intermediary tool that allows you to explore and map a network of common thoughts and emotions,” Winska explained. “This network is similar to the idea of constellations, where the stars in the night sky are grouped into patterns, or to an electric circuit that delineates the flow of energy. This metaphor becomes tangible if you realize that this drawing on the wall will be made in metalpoint, an ancient technique that uses metal wire to create drawings. The lines in your drawing are like the wires in an electrical circuit; they both carry energy. Together, we will be creating an endless and uninterrupted flow of energy between all individuals that participate in this project. The drawing will illustrate one of the many simple, everyday reciprocal gestures we see around us. We call these exchanging gestures of energy the Energetics of Human Connection.”  

Each participant will receive a hand-made metalpoint stylus to draw on the wall and to later take home as a gift.

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 most recently enjoyed a solo exhibition of her works at the Atlantic Center for the Arts Alt_Space Gallery in New Smyrna Beach, Fla.

“I create forms and structures that allude to natural phenomena, living systems, and their formation on a micro and macro scale,” according to her 2013 artist statement. “The elements in my works — such as lines, circles, and pearl-like shapes — cluster, 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.” 

The Annette Howell Turner for the Arts is located at 527 N. Patterson St. and is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Admission is free of charge

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/

http://turnercenter.org/

http://youtu.be/qAFpDQZlS1s

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

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