Polish Arts Club of Youngstown plans art, music and tea reception

YOUNGSTOWN — The Polish Arts Club of Youngstown’s Annual Scholarship Art, Music & Tea Reception will take place from 1-4 p.m. Sunday at the Butler North Community Performance Space on the north corner of Spring Street and Wick Avenue on University Plaza, Youngstown. The event was created to showcase the work of area Polish-American fine and performing artists to the general public.

The event is free and open to the public. A tea and cookies reception will follow.

Featured performers and artists will be Edward Bak, a professor at the Ohio State University School of Music and the principal coach at Opera Columbus, performing Chopin piano pieces; Berni Koczwara, Boardman resident and oil painter specializing in historic homes; and Martyna Matusiak, a visual artist born in Knurow, Poland. and residing in Pittsburgh. She specializes in hand-drawing animation reflecting the black and gray of her industrial cities of birth and residence.

Bak appears regularly in concert with established artists and emerging talents and has been heard in such venues as the Teatro Colon, the Monnaie, The Festival Lanuadiere, The Philips Collection and the Kolarac Hall. He is active as a chamber musician and as such has shared the stage with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony. He is a regular faculty member at Prelude to Performance and has served on the staff of the AIMS Institute in Graz, Austria.

Koczwara was born in Youngstown and has lived in Boardman for more than 60 years. Oil painting has been a hobby for 30 years, with a favorite theme of turn-of-the-century winter scenes. Her paintings feature horses, sleighs and other winter activities. These subjects are mostly from childhood memories and from her admiration of historical buildings. Koczwara’s paintings have been accepted at the Butler Institute of American Arts Annual Artists Exhibit for the past four years. The first sale of her prints was the at the Salem Arts and Crafts Show in April 2005. In 2006 her paintings were on exhibit at the Boardman Township Government Center.

Koczwara accepts commissions for oil painting pictures of century homes.

Matusiak received her master of arts in 2007 from the University of Opole and in 2009 her master of fine arts from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a major in drawing and a minor in print media. She is writing her thesis, teaching Polish language, working as an artist’s assistant, office manager and graphic designer at a private tutoring company. Matusiak is a mixed-media artist. Since moving to the United States her work has been focusing on artists’ books, hand-drawing animation art, 3D objects, drawings and digital prints. She exhibits nationally and internationally. She is constantly exploring and searching for challenging, inspiring ideas.

The Polish Arts Club of Youngstown is part of the American Council for Polish Culture, Inc.