Polish artist shares knowledge with Utah State art students
Utah State University students gathered Monday to learn from a Polish artist.
Krzysztof Skorczewski shared his experience of printmaking with USU students. His practice of printmaking started 30 years ago when he was introduced to it while studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, Sweden.
Skorczewski is self-taught and over the years has developed his personal theories about art and engraving.
All you need is a burren (knife), a well-polished copper plate with rounded edges and an idea, he said.
Childhood is important because it influences people’s feelings, Skorczewski said. He stressed the point of artist’s surrounding influencing his work and that the world outlook is the key to artwork. His home city, Krakow, Poland has influenced his work greatly, he said.
“Quick success is easy success. True, important artwork is achieved over a long period of time,” Skorczewski said.
Chris Greenmun, a senior art student, attended the event.
“It’s always good to expose us to different ideas, techniques and ways of approaching art,” he said.
Skorczewski had a translator, Jordan Leary, an art student who served a mission in Poland.
Leary said the experience helped enhance his ideas on artwork.
“I didn’t understand what it meant to people that did it professionally. I’d like my art to be more a part of me and to express who I am and what I believe,” Leary said.
Printmaking is one of the oldest traditional techniques in Europe. It began 600 years ago at a gold workshop, where documents were made by engraving metal plates and somehow found their way onto paper. It’s still disputed whether that was in Italy or Germany.
The Marie Eccles Caine Foundation sponsored Monday’s event. Koichi Yamamoto, a professor in the art department, invited Skorczewski to come to USU.
Skorczewski makes an average of five to six copper plates per year.
“That gives me full satisfaction,” he said.
Skorzewski’s plans for the future are “to have time to paint, because I’ve been doing this for 30 years.”
Skorczewski will hold printmaking workshops until Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Chase Fine Arts Center, Room 104.
–jannahz2002@yahoo.com