Artist profile: Sarah Cukrowicz
Preface photo/Christina Clark
By CHRISTINA CLARK
Staff Writer
At the end of every semester, students graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts display their finest work around campus and in exhibitions.
One of those artists is Sarah Cukrowicz, whose art is on display in the fifth floor atrium of the Schurz Library.
“My work is driven by the desire to explore possibilities, create atmosphere and convey emotion,” reads Cukrowicz’s artist’s statement next to her work. “I question the traditional choices of material, surface, color and texture to express reality.”
“I really love color, so I tend towards mediums that allow me to express this,” Cukrowicz said. “I prefer working in oils, because of the richness of color and the illusion of depth that the more transparent colors can help create. I also like working wet paint into wet paint, which is more difficult to do with acrylic.”
However, she isnot bound by just one medium.
“I also really enjoy silk screening because of its flexibility. It’s really well suited to making decisions and changes on the fly,” she said. “In some ways prints are considered less precious than drawings or paintings, because of the multiples…I find that they allow me more ‘do-overs’ when I’m trying to realize my artistic vision.”
Finding value in IUSB’s art program, Cukrowicz grew as an artist through instructors that aided and challenged her.
“Some of my instructors have been tremendously supportive in allowing me opportunities to explore and find my own artistic voice while simultaneously growing and stretching my skills.” Finding much value in what the instructors have to share, she talks about the “wealth of knowledge” that instructors have to share, if only you can find “who and what to ask.”
The future has already begun for Cukrowicz—she’s submitted a couple of works into local juried competitions, though she won’t receive the results until May.
“I want to complete my [Masters of Fine Arts], and then I’d also like to do graduate studies in painting conservation and restoration.”
“In all my works, no matter the medium, I strive to stretch beyond tradition while creating a tangible mood and atmosphere that invites the viewer to create their own version of the story within,” her artist statement closes.
More student art exhibitions are on display in the East Lounge of Northside Hall from April 11-20. The fifth floor atrium of the Schurz Library will continue to feature other artists’ work throughout the semester.
