​Contemporary South African Art

Article credits to http://teresaposyniak.com/

Calgary artist Teresa Posyniak was born in Regina in 1951. She brings to her art an incredibly versatile professional training that includes different disciplines and a wide range of materials. She has degrees in literature and drama; a BFA in printmaking and painting and an MFA in sculpture. Over the course of her thirty year career, she has worked with materials as diverse as steel, wood, silk, handmade paper, felt and oil. Her art has evolved from bold installations to paintings of tremendous sensitivity and beauty. Posyniak is best known for her work with encaustic, using hot beeswax to create rich, sensual surfaces that incorporate textures, drippings, splatters and layers of tinted, glowing colours. This is an extremely difficult medium demanding great skill, dexterity and speed. Posyniak has always been a socially engaged artist and her activism, primarily on behalf of women, children and the environment, informs her practice. In essence, Posyniak's paintings deal with the human condition; her nudes are emotional, raw and layered in meaning. Notable among her works is Lest We Forget, 1994, a large scale sculpture dedicated to murdered women, which is permanently installed at The Law School at the University of Calgary. Posyniak'soeuvre also includes culturally sensitive portraits of women. Consensus is a recent series depicting Blackfoot women, a unique collaborative project with Elder Linda Many Guns. 

Posyniak has taught in the Art Department of the University of Calgary and at the Alberta College of Art + Design. A recipient of many awards and grants from the Alberta and Saskatchewan governments as well as The Canada Council, Posyniak is represented in many private and public collections, including the Glenbow Museum, The City of Calgary Civic Art Collection and The Alberta Foundation for the Arts. 

Monique Westra (M.A. Art History) 
Independent Curator, Writer and Speaker 
Art Curator, Glenbow Museum (2002-2010)