www.asiasztencel.com
347.400.2339
sztencelasia@gmail.com
Sztencel believes the role of the artist requires a respectful approach and sensitivity towards the community. Through conceptual practice and traditional craft, her work offers a personal exploration within the larger narrative of the immigration experience.
EDUCATION
2013 Master of Fine Arts, Social Practice, CUNY Queens College, NYC
2003 Master of Fine Arts, Printmaking, Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland
2003-04 Master of Science, Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
1996 Set Design Diploma, PLSP, Lodz, Poland
HONORS / AWARDS
2016 Grant Award for Artists, Polish Cultural Institute of NYC. Project: You can't carry your landscape with you.
2016 Individual Artist Grant, Consulate General of Poland, NYC. Projects: Parcel from America and You can't carry your landscape with you.
2015 Grant Award, Culture Shock Foundation, Warsaw, Poland. Project: Greenpoint, Brooklyn workshop series in collaboration with the Polish immigrant community.
2009 Teacher of the Year Award, Westwood College, Inland Empire Campus, CA
2009 Teacher of the Term Award, Westwood College, Inland Empire Campus, CA
2004 Young Artist’s Scholarship, Mayor of Krakow Award, Krakow, Poland
2003 National Printmaking Competition, Second Place, Krakow, Poland
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2022 - Current Teaching Artist at KoKo NYC, Open Source Gallery Program, Brooklyn, NY
2020 Teacher, Continuing Education, The School of Visual Arts, NYC, Course: Painting
2016 - Current Substitute Teacher, Continuing Education, The School of Visual Arts, NYC, Course: Painting
2011-16 Part-time Faculty, The Art Institute of New York City, NYC, Courses taught: Observational Drawing, Drawing and Perspective, Form and Space, Color Theory, Bookbinding, Introduction to Typography.
2006-10 Part-time Faculty, Westwood College, Upland, CA, Courses taught: Painting, Observational Drawing, Drawing and Perspective, Color Theory, Drawing for Interior, Space Planning, Residential Interiors, Materials in Interior design, Interior Construction Technology and Details, Introduction to Interior Finishes, Residential Interior Construction Documents, Commercial Interior Construction Documents, History and Theory of Human Environments.
2008-10 Part-time Faculty, The Art Institute of California, Hollywood, CA, Courses taught: Observational Drawing, Drawing and Perspective, Color Theory.
VOLUNTEERING
2018 - Current Event Supporter, NOoSPHERE Arts, Brooklyn, NY
2012 - Current Open Studio Instructors Assistant , Isamu Noguchi Museum, Long Island, NY
SELECT PANELS, LECTURES AND CRITIQUE
2019 Guest Critique, Integrated Design Program, The New School's Parsons School of Design, NYC
2019 Juror, Stanislaw Strzeminski Competition, Academy of Fine Arts, Lodz, Poland
2015 Panel Discussion, Social Practice 101, Queens Museum, Queens, NY
2011 Lecturer, Visual Arts, CUNY, Hunter College, NYC
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
2013 -17 Printmaking Advanced Study, School of Visual Arts, NYC
2009 Printmaking Advanced Study, Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, CA
2005 Printmaking Advanced Study, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
2003 Certificate of Teaching, School of Pedagogy, Krakow, Poland
1998 Drawing Advanced Study, Ecole Nationale Superieure Beaux-Arts, Paris, France
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
2020 - 21 Joined Art Residency at the Artists Alliance INC. and the Residency Unlimited
2018 Artist-in-Residence, Burton Chace Park, Marina Del Rey, CA
2018 Artist-in-Residence, 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA
2017 Artist-in-Residence, Residency Unlimited, Brooklyn, NY
2017 Artist-in-Residence, The Hollows, Brooklyn, NY
2016 Artist-in-Residence, Kurier Plus, Polish Weekly Newspaper, Brooklyn, NY
2001 Fondazione Romualdo Del Bianco Residency, Florence, Italy
1995 Bydgoszcz Sculpture Residency Program, Bydgoszcz, Poland
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND ART PROJECTS
2019 #Claim Public Spaces Sister-Project, McGolrick Park, Brooklyn, NY. A public space intervention in which a Greenpoint public park was transformed into a plein air studio. The outdoor pop-up studio was open to the public and featured the artist painting landscapes onsite daily. Paintings are made from memories of travels to Poland and California. Visitors were invited to join the creative process.
2019 “Gadki Szmatki" Exhibition, Bec Zmiana Foundation, Warszawa, Poland. Solo show of site-specific tote bags representing the "object as a vehicle of dialogue." Project Partner: Academy of Fine Arts, Lodz, Poland.
2019 You Can’t Carry Your Landscape With You - Sister Project, Refugee Center, Grotniki, Poland. The sister project to the 2017 Greenpoint artwork of the same name. In Grotniki the artist produces portraits of refugees living in Poland. Film and photography documentation by Polish filmmaker Aleksander Krzystyniak.
2019 Make Art Not War, Refugee Center, Grotniki, Poland. The concept was to create a project template for reflections on social-political issues related to the presence of refugees. Art-making workshops for children of refugees were presented onsite at the Polish Refugees Center. The children were welcomed and given opportunities for creative expression. The next iteration of the project is forthcoming Spring 2020 by invitation of the City Gallery in Lodz. Polish filmmaker Aleksander Krzystyniak provided documentation.
2019 Project Display, Burton Chace Park, Marina Del Rey, CA. Ongoing community outreach exhibition created at the Park Community Center presenting the story of the project. Exhibit features artworks participants made with the artist at Burton Park.
2018 My Burton Chace Park, Burton Chace, Marina Del Rey, CA. Exhibition of work completed at The Burton Chace Park Residency with participant created artworks. Display incorporated artificial grass in reference to the original park setting. Exhibition visitors were invited to make art onsite with the artist.
2018 Open Studio, 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA. Presentation of work and promotion of the Burton Chace Park Residency with artwork made by public. Display was installed amid backyard scenery and enhanced by the VR experience allowing visitors to be "virtually" in to the park with the artist.
2018 #Claim Public Spaces Project, Burton Chace Park, Marina Del Rey, CA. A SoCal public park was transformed into a plein air studio. The outdoor pop-up studio was open to the public and the artist was on view painting landscapes. Screenshots of Polish soap operas were the source material. Visitors were welcome to paint and join lively, inspiring discussions about art.
2018 Welcome to My Pico, Virginia Park, Santa Monica, CA. Project presentation and community workshops at the Virginia Public Park in partnership with the Santa Monica Public Library and 18th Street Arts Center.
2018 Welcome to My Pico, 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA. Produced in collaboration with 18th Street Arts Center’s mapping project. A sister project to 2017 Welcome to My Greenpoint created for the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Pico, in Santa Monica. Tote bags were printed with the artist’s drawings of six iconic neighborhood businesses. Local facades, signage, a map, and other images were decorated by event visitors.
2017 Welcome to My Greenpoint, The Hollows Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. Curator: Piril Gündüz. Interactive exhibition and public engagement experiment with a theme of gentrification. Elements included self-designed tote bags, video murals, installations in local businesses, events programming. Greenpoint and Williamsburg were the location for a scavenger art hunt connecting viewers in the neighborhood. In collaboration with local businesses, a self-guided tour of local treasures was curated to delight and engage visitors to support the Polish community.
2017 Polish American in Greenpoint Installation at Java Open Studio, Brooklyn, NY. Introduction to the Greenpoint community included a survey with six questions designed to inspire curiosity about Polish culture and products among outsiders and newcomers to Greenpoint.
2015 – Current, Landscape Identity, Series of One Print Exhibitions, Brooklyn, NY. Monotype prints of Polish landscapes installed in ten Polish-owned and two American-owned businesses in Greenpoint. Prints served as interventions at sites of social exchange for the Polish immigrant community, pointing to the constant flux of gentrification.
2016 –17 You can’t carry your landscape with you, Brooklyn, NY. Painting project inspired by Renaissance Florentine paintings. Polish immigrants were invited to sit for portraits and share memories of the Polish landscape. The artist traveled to Poland to places specific to each model. These landscape details were added back in her Brooklyn studio. Film and photography documentation by Polish filmmaker Aleksander Krzystyniak.
2015 Parcel from America Project, McGolrick Park, Brooklyn, NY. A series of free outdoor workshops for school-age children of Polish immigrants in McGolrick Park and the Brooklyn Public Library in Greenpoint. Presented in collaboration with the Polish non-profit organization, Greenpoint-Transitions. Participants received paint, brushes, and new shipping boxes on which to paint their original interpretations of iconic NYC scenes. An exhibition was presented in a formerly Polish business. Painted parcels were later sent to the parent’s home country. In collaboration with photographer Maria Boyadjieva.
2015 Good Fortune Project, McGolrick Park, Brooklyn, NY. Project inspired by the Japanese tradition Omikuji. Visitors of McGolrick Park were invited to write about bad experiences on a piece of paper, as a symbol of leaving the past behind. In collaboration with artist Harumi Ori.
2015 Every Day Drawing, Brooklyn, NY. Drawing series of common household Polish products found in Greenpoint. Drawings were made from observation and posted every day on social media, creating a dialog between the Polish community and the artist. This was intended as a representation of domestic landscapes of immigrant family homes, including the artist’s.
2015 Greenpoint Portraits/Drawings in Laundromat, Brooklyn, NY. Site-specific portraits of Polish immigrants in the Polish-owned Laundromat. Portraits were made on site using the time constraints of routine public laundry tasks. Portraits were documented and gifted to the models.
2014 Ojczyzna/Motherland, Brooklyn Public Library, Greenpoint Branch, NY. Installation of Monotype Prints on c-photography of the Polish landscape.
2012 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Thesis Show, Klapper Hall Gallery, Queens, NY
2006 Solo Printmaking Show, Sharp Gallery, San Diego, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022 Repopulations, New Horizons, Broadway Stages Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. Curator Daniela Holban.
2019 Chopin & Friends Festival, Polish Cultural Institute of NYC
2019 Repopulations, Broadway Stages Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. Curator Daniela Holban.
2017 Cultivated Memory: Archaeologies of the Imagined, Peninsula Art Space, Brooklyn, NY. Curator: Isin Onol.
2017 Listening to Nature, Tenri Cultural Institute of New York City, NYC
2015 Welcome Home: Disrupted, Barbara Kalina Gallery, Chelsea, NYC
2012 Pertaining to the Character, One Art Space, NYC. Curator: Michelle Levy.
2012 Back-forward, Fanaberie, Brooklyn, NY
2011 Crosscurrents, New York Studio Gallery, NYC. Curator: Omar Lopez.
2011 Domesticated Disturbance, CAA Show, Hunter College Times Square Gallery, NYC. Curator: Stamantina Gregory.
2010 Colors of the Street, Beans Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2009 Art Walk Exhibition, Vox Populi Gallery, Pomona, CA
2009 Young Artists Show, Miramar Gallery, Pomona, CA
2007 Upland City Collective, Gallery 475, Pomona, CA
2007 BackYard Boogie, Upland City Collective Gallery, Upland, CA
2006 The Art Show, ABK Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2004 Figura-Figurae, SOK Gallery, Krakow, Poland
2004 Best of the Year Printmaking Show, ASP Gallery, Krakow, Poland
2004 Best of the Year Printmaking Show, Chlebnicka Gallery, Gdansk, Poland
2004 Best of the Month Printmaking Show, ZAAP Gallery, Krakow, Poland
COLLECTIONS
Rosenthal Library, Queens, New York CUNY Queens College, Queens, New York Art Department, New York CUNY Queens College, Queens, NY
Polish & Slavic Federal Credit Union, Brooklyn, NY
Aleksandra & Mateusz Landsberg, Private Collection, Los Angeles, CA
Dr Andrew Lubczyk, Private Collection, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS
2014 SOS Project Director, New York Design for Social Change, NYC. Students were included in the selection process of non-profit organization POMOC clients.
2014 POMOC Project Founder and Director, Queens, NY. Design for Social Change. Products include: General branding and development.
2006-07 Interior Designer, Modern Home Relics, Redlands, CA
2005-07 Curator, Schody Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2004-05 Gallery Director & Curator, Lamelli Art Gallery, Krakow, Poland
1998-99 Illustrator, Andrzej Czeczot Film, Lodz, Poland
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP
2013- 2015 The Center for Book Arts, NYC
2003-Current Polish Artists and Designers Association, a Chapter of the International Association of Art (IAA-AIAP) UNESCO