Lyndia Bodnar-Balahutrak
Cleveland, OH 1951
Study of M. Without Glasses, 1982 oil on canvas
First National Bank of Western Pa. Purchase Award 1984
Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak was born on May 6, 1951 in Cleveland, OH. She has a Bachelor of Science from Kent State University, and a Master of Fine Arts from George Washington University, 1977. She currently teaches at The Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX. She has exhibited extensively throughout the US and abroad. Lydia’s work is in the collections of the Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AK, The Art Center, Waco, TX, Museo D’Arte Dell’Universita Cattolica, Rome, Italy, Museum of Medicine; Center for Bio-Ethics, Kyiv, Ukraine, The Ukrainian Museum, New York, NY Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, IL and numerous others.
In describing her recent collaged paintings Bodnar-Balahutrak says, “My work begins with collecting newspaper and magazine articles, treasured mementos, and bits of cultural artifacts that address specific themes I wish to explore in more depth. I center my work around meaningful historic and current events.Selecting items gathered from various documentary sources, I arrange them in a sort of self-perpetuating dialogue, then collage them onto canvas, wood, or paper. Imagery evolves by adding and subtracting elements of found text – by painting, drawing, veiling, and scraping with oil, charcoal, chalks and wax. At the same time, I examine the nature of print media, how information is disseminated, what is revealed and what is concealed. I see how narratives can be created, implied, hidden, disguised. My ongoing process of layering and abrading words, images, and various ephemera reflect my deepninterest in how we come to know history – how experiences submerge, resurface, and unravel over time.”
Artist photograph from lanaloveco.com. Biography excerpts from lydiabodnarbalahutrak.com