Marta Bozyk

Born in Krakow, Poland.

PHD 2013

Assistant professor at Woodcut Studio, Graphic Art Department at Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow.

Artist in residence: Japan; UK; Scotland, Serbia, Poland. Erasmus + in Serbia, USA.

Prizes: Taiwan 2008; Macedonia 2009; Korea, 2011, Serbia, 2018.

More than 150 exhibitions and 31 solo exhibition. Working mostly in woodcut and linocut technic.

International Print Triennial Society; Museo Civico, Cremona, Italy; National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung; Museum of Washi Paper, Mino, Japan; OCI Museum of Art, Korea; International Print Biennial, Douro, Portugal; Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Fondazione Benetton - the Imago Mundi project, Italy; Zavicajni Muzej Petrovac, Balkan Bridge, SLU Niš, Memorial Park Kragujevac, Serbia; The Novosibirsk State Art Museum of Contemporary Graphic Arts, Russia; Manggha Museum, Krakow, Poland;

Author of grants:

2009 - 2011 Expedition of Printmakers to North Norway and Malopolska, Norway Grant

2018 - 2021 Nature is my Homeland - 4 countries, financed by NAWA

The Way to Be Truly Happy… (NAT Art Residence - The instant of the Creation 07/2022)

I have arrived in Spain tired, hoping to get free from various stresses - professional, emotional and ambition related. I was so happy having received the invitation for the artist residency in Northern Spain. Cantabria is a very beautiful place, inspiring and of marvelous climate.

I have always been dreaming of returning to the roots, to the fundamental need to work in Nature and with Nature. Thanks to Andrea and Gabriel I understood that the dream can be realized. They helped me, motivated me, gently leading me to the work place - the forest and the river. Slowly I have opened myself to working in this new environment. I’ve somehow succeeded, although with many hard emotional moments. After several days of working in Nature I begun feeling, as a child, the need for playing with surrounding me objects.

We visited area of Cantabria, where the hills are full of prehistoric caves. These are the caves where a Paleolithic human left traces, rock paintings – it was a strong and transcendental emotion to see them in reality. I understood how much we owe to these ingenious people. The messages left by them 40000 years ago in the form of hand imprints and the drawings of animals have taught us how should we look at things; just closing eyes and with all our hearts trying to recall what is really im-portant and what picture we intend to record. While working by the river, in a forest, in mountains, around Museo de la Naturaleza I have realized that I should follow my intuition, my feelings, the moments...and should try to create something with child-like joy and openness. Like a child from cave I could use only natural materials from surrounding.

Nature has prompted me how should I be working. I tossed away the tools and artistic materials which I had brought. By the Saja River I found stones which became my tools. I have built the road for them, with dry sticks found in the forest I’ve made composition on the path. Later I have picked them up and laid them on water surface, water arranged them with its own flow and the stones stopped them. I have rearranged them according to my vision. Nature spoke to me in whisper and I listened in silence, with a certain consent of my pre-ancestor from the caves.

What was my surprise? I result of my few days´ work was unexpected. I did 5 different pieces:

1. An Ancient Game with Sticks

2. Composition with sticks

3. I Released the Butterflies on the Saja River

4. Road of Stones

5. Sticks by Saja River

I saw in my works, I was working with stones, wood and water, three elements of Nature. I’ve made my composition in collaboration with water. It was really surprising experience. I found, working in Nature as a relaxing and calming action.

The work has given me a lot of joy and soothing. I wish people can go back to this beautiful connec-tion with Nature. Let’s follow Path our ancestors left us. Just close eyes and try to follow intuition and feelings, remember only beautiful pictures nature gave us. Enjoy and respect Earth!

An Ancient Game with Sticks

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Composition with sticks

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I Released the Butterflies on the Saja River

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Road of Stones

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Sticks by Saja River

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Message (Traces - 04/2021)

Time written in rock. World history recorded inside its structure. In the darkness and in the depths of corridors the shapes of time and the fate of the Earth are engraved. Hollows, convexities, roughness, texture. I’ m touching them and reading from stone walls.

Following the shape, I’ m approaching the disentanglement of the puzzle which I‘ll never solve.

Just like a prehistoric human I’m looking for the surface to record a picture, impression or an important experience. In those natural shapes are revealed after-sights, blinks from days, from life, from memories – what will they be to someone who discovers them later?

An inscription left and found on the wall. The message from the past reaches me, because someone wanted it so, and meant it to be found by me.

Or perhaps it’ s merely a print of nature, here is a mark of ancient river, there is the pass where a glacier forced its move, there ran animals admired by our ancestor.