Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Juliana Stankiewicz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Juliana, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

As a conceptual artist, the meaning in my work has always come before the execution. I have something to say and I express it through the most appropriate art form. My last large completed body of work, Modern Woman, told the story of my experiences as a woman in America, specifically focusing on the idea that women should ‘keep up appearances’, even when the situation doesn’t call for it. The best way to represent these feelings was through performance and photographs. I created a translucent mask with an image of my smiling face on it. I wore this mask while photographing myself in uncomfortable situations: walking home alone at night, hovering over a dirty toilet seat in a public restroom, caring for two children in a room full of scattered toys. In each instance both the image of the smiling face on the mask as well as the face of discomfort underneath are visible due to the mask’s translucent material. The final photographs rendered something both uncanny and uncomfortable. Through each of my pieces I feel it’s important to strive for a place of relevance in art history by touching on situations that speak to the world we are currently living in, and our experiences within it.

Juliana, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Juliana Stankiewicz, and I am New York based artist who has been actively practicing fine art for over twenty years. I grew up in the rural area of Northern NY and studied film and painting at Syracuse University in Florence, Italy and New York. My work is widely centered on female identity, how we present ourselves in the modern world, and varies in materials ranging from oil painting, performance art, photography, and hand crafted three-dimensional forms. My fine art work has shown in the East Village and LES Manhattan, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick Brooklyn. I have also shown in Connecticut at Stamford’s 2019 Art Walk, a Nasty Women group show held at Yale Divinity School, and a group show concerning women in art which was put on by the Greenwich Arts Council late 2019. In 2020 I presented in a group show at Palm Spring Art Fair that discussed women with physical disabilities and highlighted their strengths. My first solo solo show was at CJ One Gallery in midtown Manhattan and was put on for one month in 2021. The following year I put on an outdoor exhibition in upstate New York and most recently I have taken part in artist residencies in France, Portugal, and Cape Cod. My latest body of work, Woman as Object, is currently in production and consists of oil paintings and three dimensional sculpture.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Last year I was fortunate enough to be awarded the Creatives Rebuild NY’s Guaranteed Income for Art grant. This grant lasted for eighteen months and allowed me to pay my most pressing bills while dedicating myself to my art practice full time. Without the grant I would not have been able to travel to the two international art residencies I was accepted to, nor afford all of the supplies I needed to take on my first batch of large scale paintings. Art is one of the most crucial ways that we pass on stories from the generation to generation. It is an important piece in any flourishing society and should be valued as such with more federal and independent funding opportunities for the people who need it.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish that I had been taught that being an artist is an attainable career, however impossible it may seem. I spent a lot of time after art school teaching myself how to use digital illustration and motion design programs because that seemed like the closest thing to an art career that I would be able to find. Hours and hours that I could have spent on refining my painting and photography skills were delayed because I didn’t have the understanding of how to become a professional artist. Consequently, the time that I dedicated to digital design helped me to find work in the unreliable world of advertising and television while also holding me back artistically.

Contact Info:

• Website: julianastankiewicz.com
• Instagram: @julianas.artwork
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliana-stankiewicz-91767526/