Philadelphia, PA 1947-Nicetown
Art making, a family experience,
started for me, as soon as my memory began to take hold. House windows
were always painted with the icons of the season by my older siblings;
and I was assigned, the latter task of window washing, because I
am the youngest child in the family of five. The blending and smudges of
color fascinated me, more than the Pumpkins and Santa’s; and so did the
colored light, that shinned, on the floor and the walls, from the stained
glass windows, of our Philadelphia Victorian Row House.
The spots on the sidewalk, at
St. Marks Square; the garden patches, in the center of the street; and
the movement of clouds, up in the sky; became images, in stories that I
would tell, to the rest of the kids on the block. My teaching, started
at age 13, after leadership training at the Nicetown Club for Boys and
Girls, which was monitored by a Community Outreach Program sponsored by
Temple University; but I am finished teaching now, I am just a ‘sideliner‘.
I visited my old haunt recently, and found Nicetown a changed community.
The youth club and my house are still standing. What we referred
to as “bombed out” structures are gone, and new life is emerging.
I live in Maine, now. The thirty-seven
years in Waterville, has deepened the aesthetic, that is my birthright.
Shirleyanne Ratajczak
Education
1982 MA Arts Administration
- University of Maine, Orono
Fellowships
1998 Humanitas Institute - Topsham,
Maine
1997 Christopher Columbus Creative
Thinking Institute - Houston, Texas
1994 Creating New England -
University of Southern Maine, Gorham, Maine
1992 Leonardo Institute - Rutgers
University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
1991 Artreach Summer Institute
- Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
Grants/Awards
2006 Purchase Prize - Waterville
Downtown Arts Festival
1996 Fame Grant, New England
School of Communication, Hussan College, Bangor
Solo Art Exhibitions
2007 Railroad Square, Waterville,
Me
1981 University of Maine, Orono,
Me
1980 University of Maine, Farmington,
Me
Juried Art Exhibitions
2007 Juried Show, Harlow Gallery,
Hallowell, Maine
2006 Juried Show, Harlow Gallery,
Hallowell, Maine
1981 Maine Biennial, University
of Southern Maine, Gorham, Maine
1979 Spectra 1, Westbrook College,
Westbrook , Maine
1979 Maine Biennial, Bowdoin
College, Brunswick, Maine
1978 Exhibition of American
Art, State of Maine Building, Poland, Maine
Invitational Art Exhibitions
2007 Blue Marble Galley, Maine
Street, Waterville, Maine
1983 Fabrications, Maine Coast
Artists, Rockport, Maine
1982 Fiber and Fabric,
University of Maine, Augusta, Maine (Curator)
1980 Camden Hills Site Show,
Union of Maine Visual Artists, Camden, Maine
1978 Six Women Artist II - Bowdoin
College, Brunswick, Maine
Additional Group Exhibitions:
Mail Art, Colby, College, Waterville, Maine; Union of Maine Visual
Artists Exhibits: Maine Artist Week, 4 years; SOHO Gallery, New York,
New York; Open Space Gallery, Bangor; Portland Art Building, Portland,
Maine; O’Farrel Gallery, Brunswick, Maine; Unity College, Unity, Maine.
Personal Exhibits: Seton Hospital, Waterville, Maine; Johann Sabastian
B, Oakland, Maine, Atlanta, Georgia; Lexington, Kentucky; Boys Clubs of
American Regional and National Exhibits: Rhode Island School of Design,
Providence, Rhode Island; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, New York.
Student Awards: National Photography
Award; Art Award, City of Philadelphia.
Images for Shirleyanne Ratajczak
Installations are not dated
since it is stated in the written criteria that dates are not required
“in the case of large-scale installations.”
|
Copyright
2007 Shirleyanne Ratajczak
|
