ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Sylwia Lis-Persona draws inspiration from her external view of the world and internal, scientifically inaccessible spaces of feeling. When undertaking a creative record, she sometimes weaves cotton threads into the paper warp like a weaver, organising the visualisation of content and form.
Iwa Kruczkowska-Król’s numerous travels, encounters with other cultures and different natural environments allow her to notice seemingly insignificant details that go unnoticed by many. She analyses the role of humans and their relationship with the surrounding world. In her art, she is often inspired by and delves into unspoken, subconscious impulses imbued with the spirit of Zen philosophy.
In Agnieszka Chrzanowska-Małys’ art, the broadly understood world of fibre has become the material for the creation of unique casts, in which each strand becomes a line, a stroke or a zigzag, creating a visualised biological world. Exploring the secrets of nature, she uses the batik technique to create magical plant spaces. She constantly adds new works to her ongoing series, creating a kind of herbarium.
For Elżbieta Zrobek, inspiration for her creative process comes from images from the past, recorded by the senses and hidden in the recesses of memory. Polish folk women’s scarves represent a different, yet thematically consistent path of artistic reflection on the past and the transitory. The conscious use of linen fibres, the floridity and colourfulness of the resulting works evoke memories of women, the silent heroines of times gone by.
Although each artist has chosen her own creative path, the plant medium is a common form of artistic expression for them, a vehicle for content and a visualisation of their own thoughts. The four creative voices presented here are seemingly different perceptions of the world. They are reflections on our place on earth, transience, impermanence and the fragility of life.
Elżbieta Zrobek
The exhibition will be on display until 31 January 2026.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Sylwia Lis-Persona
Graduate of the Faculty of Arts at UMCS in Lublin. Diploma in painting in the studio of Prof. Adam Styka. Postgraduate studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow at the Faculty of Painting in the studio of Prof. Andrzej Bednarczyk. Annex in the 4th Interdisciplinary Studio under the supervision of Dr Małgorzata Buczek-Śledzińska, Prof. of the Academy of Fine Arts. She received a double distinction from the Council of the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow.
She is a member of the Lublin branch of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers. She works in the field of painting and unique handmade paper. She has participated in many individual and collective exhibitions, including an exhibition at the Polish Institute in Bratislava, Galerie U Zlateho Kohouta in Prague, and an exhibition accompanying the 15th International Triennial of Tapestry in Łódź. Finalist of the 11th National Exhibition of Miniature Weaving in Łódź. Finalist of the ‘NanoArt’ competition – Roi Doré Gallery in Paris and the 2nd edition of the Paderewski Competition ‘In the service of art and homeland’ organised by the Roi Doré Gallery and the Art-maniac platform in Paris. Finalist of the 10th International Biennial of Artistic Linen Textiles ‘From the Loom to Krosno’ at the Museum of Crafts in Krosno. She has participated several times in individual exhibitions accompanying the Film and Art Festival – BNP Paribas Two Riversides in Kazimierz Dolny. Individual exhibition at Piwnica pod Baranami in Krakow.
Winner of the 3rd prize in the competition entitled ‘Comparisons’ organised by BWA in Sandomierz.
She runs her own gallery, INDYGO-ART, in Kazimierz Dolny.
Iwa Kruczkowska-Król
A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, she received her diploma in 2004 in easel painting in the studio of Prof. Jacek Waltoś, with an annex in unique fabrics under Prof. Lilla Kulka. She obtained a diploma in stage design under the supervision of Prof. Krystyna Zachwatowicz-Wajda in 2004. In 2011-2012, she completed postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Interior Design and Design at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice. In 2017, she obtained a PhD in art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. Since the same year, she has been an employee of the Faculty of Architecture at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice.
Between 2004 and 2020, she participated as a set and costume designer in the production of theatre plays, feature films, short films, music videos, commercials, educational films and video art. She has organised over 30 individual exhibitions and participated in over 270 collective exhibitions in Poland and abroad, often as the curator of these exhibitions.
She has received numerous awards and distinctions in painting competitions and has been honoured with creative scholarships from the City of Krakow and the Marshal of the Silesian Province.
She has participated in numerous symposia, residencies and exhibitions in Japan, the USA, South Korea, France, Germany, Ireland, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, India, Romania, Georgia, Switzerland, Albania, Turkey, Jordan, and Colombia. She has also participated in Mail Art projects in Spain, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Austria, Argentina, Serbia, Brazil, Chile, Finland, and in online projects in Australia, Nepal, China, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Egypt, Bolivia, Nigeria, and Peru.
Agnieszka Chrzanowska-Małys
Visual artist, cultural animator, educator. She is a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice and the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. She completed postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow (paper art). She has participated in many individual and collective exhibitions in Poland and abroad. Her works are in the collections of the Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, the Museum in Gliwice, the Museum of Crafts in Krosno, the BWA Contemporary Art Gallery in Olkusz and the collection of the Amateras International Foundation in Sofia (Bulgaria). She is a member of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers and the Polish Committee of InSEA – International Society for Education through Art. Since 2024, she has been working at the Department of Fine Arts of the Faculty of Architecture at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice.
Founder of her own art studio, Studio ACM, in Gliwice.
In her work, she explores creative areas related to fibre in the broadest sense. Fragile plant material becomes not only an inspiration, but also an actual medium – both in batiks and in unique casts made of organic paper, in which she embeds fragments of plants.
Elżbieta Zrobek
Born in Czeladź. Graduate of the State Secondary School of Fine Arts in Katowice. She studied at the University of Silesia, Faculty of Arts in Cieszyn. She obtained her diploma in easel painting in the studio of Prof. Jagoda Adamus and Dr Adam Molenda. She completed postgraduate studies in painting in the studio of Prof. Teresa Kotkowska-Rzepecka and in unique handmade paper under the supervision of Dr Małgorzata Buczek-Śledzińska at the Faculty of Painting of the J. Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. In 2017, she obtained a PhD in art at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow under the artistic supervision of Prof. Teresa Kotkowska-Rzepecka. She is a member of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers, Gliwice district. She has held 40 individual exhibitions of paintings and objects made of unique paper made from organic matter. She has participated in over 100 collective presentations in Poland and abroad, including in the USA, Russia, France, Germany, England and Switzerland. She works with easel painting and creates her own unique handmade paper.
HONORARY PATRONAGE
STAROSTA POWIATU TARNOGÓRSKIEGO
ADAM CHMIEL
WÓJT GMINY ŚWIERKLANIEC
GRZEGORZ ZADĘCKI
MEDIA PATRONAGE
