Arteles Catalogue 2023-2020

Silence Awareness Existence program / JANUARY 2020
Martyna Gryko
USA
About
As a child, I was surrounded by nature. My earliest memories
are of my grandparent’s farm in Zdroje, Poland where I grew
up. Today, I find that reconnecting with nature brings me
closer to my true self. Through the practice of mindfulness, I
began to notice the cycles of life, death, and rebirth that are a
constant of our universe. Moments strolling in the park, taking
photographs, and time spent observing the natural world,
are my primary sources of inspiration and the driving force
of my artistic practice. I obtained a BFA at the College for
Creative Studies in 2017. This allowed me to study various art
mediums and philosophies. I’ve always been conscientious
of sustainable art making practices due to my interest in
eco-philosophy and nature. I found that printmaking and
book arts most aligned with this method of art practice. This
led me to work with natural and found materials to create
a body of work using paper-making as a metaphor for the
life and death cycles present in nature. The work documents
several layers of process: interaction with my environment,
collecting scrap wood and building it into an assemblage,
accumulating paper material and plants, shredding, soaking,
blending the material into pulp, and finally restructuring the
pulp to cover the underlying structure, pressing the water out
with my hands. I am very passionate about how handmade
paper can be used as an expressive medium to create works
of art, not just in codex format. I also explore the theme of
nature through watercolor painting, printmaking, and poetry.
Painting and Poetry
While in residency at Arteles, I had the chance to reconnect to
my artistic practice. During the Silence Awareness program,
I participated in daily meditation sessions and silent days. I
explored my surroundings by taking long walks around the
lake and observed the beautiful Finnish landscapes. This
allowed me to tune in to my inner world and unlocked new
channels of creativity. In the beginning, I decided to continue
working on a currently ongoing series of watercolor paintings
featuring mushrooms and trees. After two weeks in the
program, I felt myself become more receptive and emotionally
open. I noticed that after meditation my ideas flowed more
easily. I was inspired by my day to day interactions with other
residents and time spent in the sauna and began to write
poetry. This month has made it possible for me to commit
to my artistic practice and create paintings and a series of
poetry about my time spent in residence.