Joanna Mieszko

Joanna Mieszko, born in 1969, is a painter, sculptor, performer, and art curator. She also engages in photography and drawing. She graduated from the State Higher School of Fine Arts (now the University of the Arts) in Poznań, where she studied in the sculpture studios of Professors Józef Petruk, Maciej Szańkowski, and Józef Kopczyński, as well as drawing with Professors Józef Drążkiewicz and Bogdan Wegner. She also studied animation with Professors Kazimierz Urbański and Jacek Adamczak and participated in classes with Professors Jan Berdyszak and Leszek Mądzik in Skoki. Her diploma work from 1996, a series of sandstone sculptures titled "Struggles," was placed in the park space of the Poznań Zoo.

From 2014 until Edward Dwurnik's death in 2018, Mieszko collaborated with the artist, creating an extensive photographic documentation of this cooperation. During this time, she also worked intensively on a series of large acrylics and hundreds of smaller ink works. Her oeuvre includes the original performance "The Act of Creation," presentations of sculptures, large-format drawings, and paintings in both solo and group exhibitions. Together with Edward Dwurnik, she organized an exhibition of black-and-white works at the Stalowa Gallery in Warsaw. She also curated Dwurnik's exhibitions in Szczecin at the ZPAP "Kierat" Gallery (2014) and the Pomeranian Library (2014 and 2018).

Joanna Mieszko is a member of the Society of Authors ZAiKS and the Association of Polish Artists and Designers.

The Szczecin audience might remember Joanna Mieszko from her performance "The Act of Creation," held in June 2012 at the ZPAP "Kierat" Gallery. During this event, she created impressive charcoal drawings on large boards at a breathtaking pace. This time, the artist presents a series of large canvases painted with acrylics and oils, illustrating her artistic journey. This journey starts with depictions of the human body—naked, disarmed, and exposed in a metaphysical sense, and in mutual relationships. Subsequent works are inspired by Nikifor's painting technique, dominated by shades of gray, black, and white. They smoothly transition into cityscapes, where the painterly interplay of forms and colors evolves into organic relationships, conveying their purposefulness and dysfunctionality symbolically.

These works depict cities such as New York, Paris, Lisbon, and Szczecin, symbolizing the limitless expansion of the ego, which draws power from the urban environment. Despite this, they remain somewhat apart from contemporary artistic trends, drawing from the spirit and lessons of masters like Nikifor and Dwurnik. Particularly, Edward Dwurnik, to whom Joanna has dedicated her exhibition, coinciding with the month of his birth—he would have turned 77 on April 19.

In her works, Mieszko captures narratives of urban landscapes and quasi-organic structures, introducing interdependent figures and animating time. These stories, emerging from the primal source of humanity, are full of energy, emotion, and discipline, opening new doors in her artistic project.

Individual and collective exhibitions:

1991-96 – student collective exhibitions (drawing, sculpture, animation)

1993 – graphic exhibition "Czatownia", Chojna

2004 – sculptural installation "Passing", Cultural Center in Chojna; sculptural installation "Gieronimo", Cultural Center in Chojna

2007 – exhibition of graphics and drawings "Everyone suffers", Contemporary Gallery and History of the Chojna Land in Chojna; large-format sculpture exhibition, Gallery E in the West Pomeranian Teachers' Counseling and Professional Development Center in Szczecin

2010 – collective exhibition "Contemporary medallion art in Western Pomerania", National Museum in Szczecin

2011 – collective exhibition "Presence", Pomeranian Dukes' Castle in Szczecin; collective exhibition of the Szczecin District of ZPAP as part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of ZPAP; happening combined with the drawing exhibition "The Act of Creation", Cultural Center in Chojna

2012 – collective exhibition "New Opening", Gallery of the Main Board of ZPAP in Warsaw; individual exhibition of drawing "Act of Creation II" combined with a happening, Galeria "Kierat" in Szczecin; individual exhibition of large-format drawing "The End of Humanity", St. Mary's Church in Chojna; realization of a large-format sculpture "Funeral pyre" - reconstruction of the funeral pyre of a warrior of the 1st century AD Czelin

2013 – collective exhibition "1991 to and from", Galeria Winda, BWA in Kielce

2014 – individual exhibition of drawing "Landscapes of the body", Caffe 22 gallery, Radisson Blu hotel in Szczecin

2014 – "Dwurnik in Kierat" - ZPAP Gallery "Kierat"

2014 – "Sportsmen" - Pomeranian Library, Sala pod Pyramid

2015 – individual exhibition of the drawing "Act of Creation III" combined with a happening, Zamek Art Gallery in Szczecinek

2016 – collective exhibition "Zoom on Szczecin", Philharmonic. Mieczysław Karłowicz in Szczecin

2017 – exhibition of large-format paintings and graphics "About Szczecin", Książnica Pomorska, Szczecin

2018 – painting exhibition together with EDWARD DWURNIK in the "STALOWA" gallery entitled "Black and white", Warsaw

2024 – "Olympics" exhibition of paintings by Joanna Mieszko, Art in House, Olympic Center, Warsaw

Curator of Edward Dwurnik's exhibitions in Szczecin:

2018 – "Dwurnik's Book Collection" - Nobel Prize winners and romantics, Pomeranian Library, Sala pod Pyramid

2020 – "Organisms", large-format painting. ZPAP Gallery "Kierat", Szczecin

2020 – "Dwurnik. Joy and pain. Combined exhibition of large format photos with the promotion of the album entitled "Edward Birnik through my lens" by Joanna Mieszko

2021 – "8 WOMEN". Large format painting. Conductor shed, Częstochowa.