Artist Bio - Irene Wisnewski (Feminine Mystique Art Gallery)

Irene Wisnewski hails from Long Island, New York. Her parents displayed what could be accomplished by working with their hands: her mother was an excellent seamstress and also crocheted; and her father was a master mechanic and carpenter.

 

Irene had a hunger to learn about various forms of art and she borrowed books and studied techniques. Eventually she settled in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was inspired by the beauty of the place. Working at a travel agency there, she experimented with pastels and was delighted with what she was able to create. 

 

Eventually, Irene enrolled in an art class in Sumi black ink painting, which is a Japanese art, and she created many interesting pieces using the methods she learned. Also, while in Gloucester, Irene took workshops learning collagraph printmaking. She bought a press for her own use. As she progressed with that, she would gather plants and press leaves and flowers – she dried them and arranged them on masonite board and she highlighted them with oils and added textures. Then, with a damp etching paper applied, she would run them on her press, creating a beautiful nature print which she would then frame.

 

At various times, Irene participated in art shows – for instance: the Greenwich Village Art Show and the Mystic, Connecticut Art Show where she displayed and sold her pastels. Irene’s art was also included in the Rocky Neck Art Colony in East Gloucester. Her artistic talents were beginning to be well known and she decided to open the Irene Wisnewski Gallery in 1967, in Gloucester. This gallery continued to thrive during the summers from 1967 through 1999. In the winter months, Irene experimented with her textured work, oils and acrylics. She entered her creations in art shows in San Jose, California, as well as in South Lake Tahoe.

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Another facet of this artist’s experience occurred at the Worcester, Massachusetts Art Museum, where she worked with mono-prints and began landscape painting with oils. Then, her hunger for learning brought her to the Brickbottom Art Center in Cambridge, Mass. in 1980, where she learned to create handmade paper and she produced some beautiful nature collages on that handmade paper.

 

In 1999, Irene moved west to Tubac, Arizona, a thriving art colony. She was delighted with the area and established her gallery there. After five years had passed, her children in No. California encouraged her to move nearer to them. So, for three years she lived near her children and amongst the beautiful California redwoods, but the persistent rainy times made her yearn for a return to Tubac, Arizona, where the mountains, sunshine and desert beauty inspired her.

 

Presently, Irene Wisnewski’s beautiful acrylics and mixed media collages are proudly displayed and sold at the Feminine Mystique Art Gallery in Tubac, which features the art of women exclusively.