Portrait of an Artist as a Young Girl

"I simply paint what I see. Beauty comes everything I see around me,” says William Tennent High School Senior, Michelle Kryzstofiak.

An up-and-coming artist, Kryzstofiak expresses her love for the beautiful. Beauty, she says, lies in the simple nuances of life.

The contribution of this young talent to the world of American art has already been significant, and may be immense in the future. Her paintings exude a natural calm, a placid contemplation, serenity, and of course, the beauty of nature - including the unseen bliss of an auburn-haired child at the shore.

Kryzstofiak’s work evokes a sense of aesthetic beauty ­ - the scene of the seashore, an autumn noon, a market. One of the most emotive points of her work is the incorporation of the human element in her art. Her paintings carry a beautiful juxtaposition of nature and daily life. The translation of life into canvas has been so moving that it drew the acclimation of the PSEA’s 2011 “Touch the Future Exhibition.”

Kryzstofiak’s prize-winning piece, entitled “Always Something” won the prestigious category for best of Painting/Acrylic/Oil/Watercolor painting this year.

The annual competition highlights the top-notch artistic talents of public high schools students in Bucks and Montgomery counties. This year's juried show saw 1,200 pieces submitted from 20 local high schools. Other Tennent students, including Samantha Scheer, Krista Titus, Rachael Benedetto, Cara McCaffrey, Ryan Ross, Jessica Miller, Colleen Dugan, Kerstin Rathbun, Sean Patrick, Ellen Galperin, Issaiah Harris, Kristen Nisula, Emily Meissner, Melanie Posner, Lacey Goodrich, Emily Avery, Taihlor Conway, Michelle Kryzstofiak, Alecia Seligs, Jessica Livezy, Michael Lambreschete, and Chantelle Saleh all have work selected for the exhibition.

Sponsored by the Mideastern Region of the Pennsylvania State Education Association (MER/PSEA) and the Council for the Advancement of Public Schools (CAPS), the exhibit is open to the public from Feb. 5 through Feb. 27. An awards reception is planned for today from 1 to 3 p.m., with awards presented at 2 p.m.

The annual competition began as a memorial to Christa McAuliffe, NASA’s “teacher in space,” whose motto was “I touch the future…I teach.” This year’s judge will be Carmina Cianciulli, assistant dean for admissions, Tyler School of Art, Temple University.

"An artist is someone who produces things that people don't need to have but that he - for some reason - thinks it would be a good idea to give them." -  Andy Warhol

When starting to explore painting, Kryzstofiak discovered that she loved watercolor because it can be layered easily. She also found that watercolors make for “dripping” effects.  She explored other medium, and realized that acrylic paints can afford the same appearance.

At a very young age, Kryzstofiak has come to understand that, “Art is bigger than making pretty pictures,” she says. Art exists, in every form to move people to feel or to act, she says.

“Most art isn’t made for display,” says Kryzstofiak.

Art doesn't transform. It just plain forms.
Roy Lichtenstein

Her favorite artists are modern conceptual painters, Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holtzer. And, of course, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

“All kinds of art surround my life,” she says. “Music, painting, photography.”

Kryzstofiak has been a student in the Centennial School District since her family moved to the area when she was in the second grade.  Set to graduate this spring, Kryzstofiak plans to attend Temple University in the fall of 2011. 

Her love of the arts drives her career goals.  She intends to blend her love of the arts with an education degree, and hopes to become a high school art teacher.

“Art is hard to make a living at, but art education is more important to me,” she says.

Noting the importance of her own high school art teachers at Centennial, including Mrs. Wendy Collins, Mr. Tim Walker, Mrs. Kristin King, Kryzstofiak noted her fortune in having such “high quality teachers.”

“All of my art teachers have their own things going on, jewelry lines, outside things,” Kryzstofiak says. “I hope to do CD covers, posters, and other graphic design projects, but art education is my first priority.”

Her own prize-winning work, “Always Something,” was born out of a month’s long illness that forced her to be absent from school.  Her teacher, Mr. Walker, encouraged her to enter her acrylic painting in this year’s PSEA “Touch the Future” Competition.

“I was really proud of it, because it was deeper than anything I had done before.  I was humbled by the recognition I received,” Kryzstofiak said.

The exhibition will be open to the public through Sunday, Feb. 27, free-of-charge, during gallery hours: Wed.-Fri., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thurs., 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sat. & Sun., 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Abington Art Center is located at 515 Meetinghouse Road in Jenkintown. For more information on the center, please call 215-887-4882 or visit www.abingtonartcenter.org.