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Monika Meler  Artist Statement I was born and raised in Brodnica, Poland, a very small town in the center of the country. At the age of ten, my family and I immigrated to Chicago, one of the largest cities in the United States. Although Chicago had its share of Polish communities that upheld and sustained Polish traditions, it was the landscape and spaces that I grew up in and around that I struggle to remember and retain. I lived in the United States without going back to my home country for fourteen uninterrupted years. My prints explore invented landscapes that are components of the cherished memories of my childhood. As an adult, I resisted the idea that these memories of Poland would fade, and tried desperately to hold on to them. During my first visit to Poland after the fourteen-year absence, the spaces and landscape that I occupied as a child changed drastically. These changes made me realize that the existence of some particular places and events were purely fictional and invented. Yet this did not matter because no matter how much I looked at these actual places, I could only remember them the way that they had existed in my mind. The image of Brodnica that exists in my head was so strongly engraved, it could never be replaced by actuality. The house that I grew up in was recently painted pink by the new owners, yet it will always be the yellow that I remember of my childhood. The road that led to my home had been paved in my absence, yet every time I think of it my mind remembers the unpaved road. My prints invite the viewer to be in, look upon, and explore these spaces that exist in my mind. The landscapes that I draw from are ultimately comprised of several layers of land, building, dilapidation of architectural form, and memory. The shapes that I use in my prints are vague references to architecture that disorient the viewer into believing that they are perhaps neither here nor there, but simultaneously everywhere, just as I am simultaneously living in Rome, Chicago, and Brodnica. Although at times vaguely resembling a map, the work is hardly meant to orient the viewer in any specific place. I construct these prints in layers, which is how I perceive that memory is formed. These fake architectural spaces are influenced by all of the places that I have lived and because all are printed on top of one another, the diversity of the landscapes merges to create one large and disorienting mass. These masses do not make a reference to gravity, which only reinforces the lack of actuality in the work. Curriculum Vitae Education 2007 MFA, Printmaking, Completion May 2007 Tyler School of Art, Temple University Rome, Rome, Italy 2005 MA, Studio Art Purdue University, Indiana. 2003 BFA, Printmaking with a Minor in Art History Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Teaching Experience 2007-2006 Graduate Teaching Assistant in Visual Arts, Temple University Rome, Rome, Italy. Assisted a professor maintaining the print  facilities and teaching. 2005-2003 Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Instructor of Record, Sole Responsibility for: A&D 113: Basic Drawing A&D 114: Drawing II 2002 Teaching Assistant For Pre-College Figure Drawing Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 2002-2001 Teaching Assistant for Beginning Printmaking Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Selected Exhibitions 2006 Six In a Room, Temple University Rome Gallery, Rome, Italy. Visually Unrelated, Together At Last, Madison Street Gallery, Indianapolis, Indiana. Lessedra World Print Annual 2006, Lessedra Gallery, Sofia Bulgaria. Big Block Exchange Exhibition, Philagrafika Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Innuendo, Gossip, Lies, And Half-Truths, Penrose Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. 9th International Open Exhibition, Juried National Exhibition, Womanmade Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. Hello, My Name is Fellow, Exhibition of Temple University Fellowship Recipients, Tyler Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. 2005 Block Exchange Exhibition, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Exchange II, East Gallery, Visual and Performing Arts Department, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Mid-America Print Council Members Exhibition, National Juried Exhibition, Central Michigan University Art Gallery, Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Cultural Transport/Moving Targets Portfolio Exhibition, International Invitational Portfolio, Universitat der Kunste (University of Fine Arts), Berlin, Germany. Cultural Transport/Moving Targets, International Invitational Portfolio, Akademnia Sztuk Pieknych (Academy of Fine Arts), Poznan, Poland. The Nature of Paper, National Juried Exhibition, Womanmade Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. Shelbyville County Juried Exhibition, Regional Juried Exhibition, Indiana Downs Gallery, Shelbyville, Indiana. Memory Nostalgia Virus Vessel, Solo Exhibition, West Gallery, Visual and Performing Arts Department, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Regional Juried Art Competition, Indiana University Kokomo Art Gallery, Kokomo, Indiana. Inside Out, Juried Exhibition, Gallery West, Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Multiple Meanings, Wells Cultural Center, Lafayette, Indiana. Indiana Now! Lafayette Museum of Art, Lafayette, Indiana. 2004 Fission/Fusion, Gallery East, Visual and Performing Arts Department, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Whitewater Valley Art Exhibition, Indiana University East Art Gallery, Richmond, Indiana. Digressions, Gallery East, Visual and Performing Arts Department, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Exchange! Gallery East, Visual and Performing Arts Department, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. 2003 Coming Attractions, Installations by 15 Artists, Lafayette Theatre Alternative Installation Space, Lafayette, Indiana. Best of Thesis Exhibition, Juried Exhibition, Layton Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Urban Side Show, Turner Hall Alternative Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Recent Prints and Installations, BFA Thesis Exhibition, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design Gas Light Building, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. International Exchange, Printmaking Exhibition, Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, Poland. International Exchange, Printmaking Exhibition, Milwaukee Institute Of Art and Design, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Exhibition of Prints, Gallery 326, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 2002-2000 Annual Student Exhibition, Layton Gallery, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milwaukee Inner City Council Exhibition, Milwaukee Inner City Exhibition Space, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Student Printmaking Exhibition, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Honors and Awards 2007-2006 Teaching Assistant Award, Temple University Rome, Italy. 2006-2005 Temple University Fellowship for Graduate Study, Temple University Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. 2005 Brooks Fellowship to attend Summer Printmaking Workshop at Anderson Ranch Art Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado. 2005 Delta Phi Delta Scholarship to attend Summer Printmaking Workshop at Anderson Ranch Art Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado. 2005 Juror Award, Shelbyville County Juried Exhibition, Shelbyville, Indiana. 2005 Merit Award, Regional Juried Art Competition, Kokomo, Indiana. 2005 Juror Award, Inside Out Exhibition, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. 2004 Purchase Award, Whitewater Valley Art Competition, Richmond, Indiana. 2004 Delta Phi Delta Merit Scholarship, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. 2005-2003 Teaching Assistant Award, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. 2003-1999 Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design Scholarship, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Lectures/Panels 2006 Visiting Artist Lecture, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 2005 Gallery Talk for Nostalgia Virus Vessel Exhibition, West Gallery, Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. 2004 Mentor/Protégé Panel, Mid-America Print Conference, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska. Experience in Curating Exhibitions 2006 Innuendo Gossip, Lies, and Half-Truths, National Juried Exhibition, Tyler Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. 2005 Marginalia Portfolio and Exhibition, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. 2005 Organized Digressions Exhibit, East Gallery, Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Conferences/Workshops 2006 Southern Graphics Council Conference, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Wisconsin. 2005 Digital Printmaking Workshop, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado. 2005 Impact/Kontakt International Conference in Berlin, Germany and Poznan, Poland. 2004 Southern Graphics Council Conference, Mason Gross School of Art, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. 2004 Mid America Print Council Conference, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska. 2001 Southern Graphics Council Conference, University of Texas, Austin, Texas. Bibliography 2005 Exhibition Catalogue for Mid-America Print Council Members Exhibition, National Juried Exhibition, Central Michigan University Art Gallery, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 2004 Exhibition Catalogue for Whitewater Valley Art Exhibition, Indiana University East Art Gallery, Richmond, Indiana.
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