Beata Wehr - Artist Statement
The desert and my collection of the found metal objects and my emotional responses to the events happening here and at distant places inspire many of my recent paintings. These three subjects do not have much in common, however all of them are part of my life and as such appear on the paintings.
Sometimes the distinction between desert plants and my metal pieces is not clear, and the abstracted landscape contains collection of unrecognizable shapes. They are meditations on the desert and the human urge to collect, comments on place and time. Others, in which intense shapes almost scream, are emotional responses to the recent natural disasters and the tensions between the nations and cultures resulting in wars and acts of terror. Paintings in yet another group show dreamlike peaceful landscapes, those I wish would be reachable to everybody at all the times. I go back and forth between figuration and abstraction, trying to capture the feelings associated with specific locations or sometimes transforming the landscape into an almost non-descriptive one. Many of my works are about longing, or dreams. Some of the works have multiple layers of paint, the newer ones partially obscuring the older, symbolizing memory and the passage of time.
Resume
Education
1999 M.F.A. in Painting, University of Arizona, Art Department, Tucson, AZ
1982 M.A. in Art History, Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland
1986-89 Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
1984-85 Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, Poland
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2006 Pima Community College Library, Artist’s Books
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2000 Pokaz Gallery, Warsaw, Poland, Too Far Away…, Artist’s Books (catalog)
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1999 Book Art Museum, £ódz, Poland, Artist’s Books
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1999 The University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ, In Between, MFA Thesis Exhibition
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1998 Fine Arts Library Gallery, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, In Transit, Artist’s Books
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1997 Gallery at Rancho Linda Vista, Oracle, AZ, Paintings
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1996 Artisimo Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ, Paintings
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1995 The Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton, NJ, Small Paintings from Mexico and Arizona
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1995 Main Public Library, Tucson, AZ, Recent Paintings
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1995 Phantom Galleries, Tucson, AZ, New Paintings from the Desert
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1994 Book Arts Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Finding Missing Images, Watercolors from Mexico
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1991 The Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton, NJ, People and Places
Group:
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2007 Park Chanot , Marseille, France, Contemporary Creative Books, 10th International Symposium and Book Fair (catalog)
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2007 Donna Seager Gallery, San Rafael, CA, Narrative Thread: artist's books involving stitching, sewing and string
University Art Gallery, California State
- 2007 University, Chico, CA, Conceptually Bound 3, traveling to: Mohr Gallery, Community School of Music and Art, Mountain View, CA (catalog)
- 2007 Special Collections, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, Books and Death: Book Artists' Construction of Death, Mourning and Memory
- 2007 Bornholms Kunstmuseum, Helligdommen, Gudhjem, Denmark, Polish Book Art
- 2007 The City Art Gallery, £ódz, Poland , "Time" 8th International Book Art Festival, traveling to: National Print Museum, Dublin, Ireland (catalog) www.bookart.pl
- 2007 ArtWorks!, New Bedford, MA, Here and There, Stories of Immigration
- 2007 Main Library, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, Book as Art
- 2007 Joseph Gross Gallery, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, Adjunct Faculty Exhibition
- 2007 Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Midsummer Night's Dream
- 2007 Oro Valley Library, Oro Valley, AZ, Artists' Books Exhibition
- 2006 Park Chanot , Marseille, France, Contemporary Creative Books, 9th International Symposium and Book Fair (catalog)
- 2006 Biblioteca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt, Second International Biennial for the Artist’s Book (catalog)
- 2006 Noosa Regional Gallery, Tewantin, Australia, Books ’06
- 2006 Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania, 4th International Book Triennial (catalog), traveling to: Leipzig Book Fair, Leipzig, Germany
- 2006 King St. Stephen Museum, Szekesfehervar, Hungary, 4th International Artists’ Book Exhibition (catalog)
- 2006 San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, CA, Bookworks 2006
- 2006 University Art Gallery, University of the South, Beyond Words: Artists' Books, International exhibition Sewanee, TN (catalog)
- 2006 Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ, 14th Small works Invitational
- 2006 Dinnerware Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Telling Time
- 2006 Platform Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Group Exhibition
- 2006 Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Persona
- 2006 Kachina Lounge Gallery, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, Mimesis Eleven, U of A Printmakers Show
- 2006 Darcy Falk Gallery, Flagstaff, AZ, Art and Word II , Artist’s Books
- 2005 Columbia College Chicago Center for Books and Paper Arts, Chicago, IL, 4th International Columbia Book and Paper Triennial
- 2005 Kaire Desine Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2nd International Collage Exhibition (catalog)
- 2005 Danish Museum of Art and Design, Copenhagen, Denmark, Contemporary Polish Book Design
- 2005 Park Chanot , Marseille, France, Contemporary Creative Books, 8th International Symposium and Book Fair (catalog)
- 2005 Noosa Regional Gallery, Tewantin, Australia, Books ’05, Image as Text as Image
- 2005 Polish Institute, Budapest, Hungary, Polish Book Art
- 2005 Pacific Center for the Book Arts, San Francisco, CA, Calendars
- 2005 ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL, Artists in Times of War
- 2005 Steamboat Springs Arts Council, Steamboat Springs, Colorado, The Intensive Spirit
- 2005 Tohono Chul Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Bound and Unbound: Artists’ Books and Other Paper Constructions
- 2005 Platform Gallery, Tucson, AZ, December Salon
- 2005 University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ, Faculty Exhibition
- 2005 Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Recuerdos,
- 2005 Tohono Chul Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Re-Visions
- 2004 Kaire Desine Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania, 1st International Collage Exhibition (catalog) traveling to: Art Center, Jonava and Print Gallery “E.R”, Kaunas, Lithuania
- 2004 Park Chanot, Marseille, France, Contemporary Creative Books, 7th International Symposium and Book Fair (catalog)
- 2004 Noosa Regional Gallery, Tewantin, Australia, Books ’04, Works of Imagination
- 2004 Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio, Open Book (catalog on CD)
- 2004 Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Here I am
- 2004 La Jolla Fiber Arts, La Jolla, CA, Imagine That, Book Arts, (catalog)
- 2004 Bright Hill Center, Treadwell, 3rd North American Juried Book Arts Competition Exhibit
- 2004 Transition Gallery, Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho, West of 105’ traveling to Spori Gallery, BYU Idaho
- 2003 National Library, Warsaw, Poland, International Exhibition of Artists’ Books, 7th edition (catalog) traveling to 12 galleries in Poland and to Sweden and Denmark
- 2003 Park Chanot - Hall 7, Marseille, France, Contemporary Creative Books,
6th International Symposium and Book Fair (catalog)
- 2003 Wexford Art Centre, Wexford, Ireland, 9th Wexford Artist’s Book Exhibition
- 2003 Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania, 3rd International Book Triennial (catalog), traveling to: Manna Gallery, Bruge, Belgium (2003), Gallery Gravicel, Lille, France, International Book Fair, Frankfurt, Germany (2004)
- 2003 Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, AZ, Drawn
- 2003 The Society for Contemporary Crafts, Pittsburgh, PA, Home/Land, Immigration, Artists, Identity (catalog) traveling to: The Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts, Houston, TX(2004)
- 2004 The Fuller Museum, Brockton, MA
- 2004 Buddy Holly Center, Lubbock, TX, Artists Made Books (catalog)
- 2004 The University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ, Love and/or Terror, Invitational
- 2004 The University of Arizona Special Collections Library, Tucson, AZ, Book as Art
- 2002 Pyramid Atlantic, Riverdale, MD, Built by Hand: Book as Art, International Juried Exhibition
- 2002 Gallery Lux, San Francisco, CA, [re]Readings : Artist’s Books Now
- 2002 School of Architecture, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, Faculty Exhibition
- 2002 Jordan River Art Center, East Jordan, MI, International Book Arts Exhibit
- 2002 Center for Book and Paper Arts, Chicago, IL, 3rd National Columbia book and Paper Arts Biennial (catalog)
- 2002 Park Chanot - Palais des Congres, Marseille, France, Contemporary Creative Books, 5th International Symposium and Book Fair (catalog)
- 2002 Northwest Bookfest, Seattle, WA, Artists’ Books traveling to: Collins Gallery, Portland, OR
- 2002 Bright Hill Center, Treadwell, NY, Bright Hill Press National Book Arts Juried Exhibition (catalog)
- 2002 PKiN, Warsaw, Poland, 47th International Book Fair (catalog)
- 2002 Cuesta College Art Gallery, San Luis Obispo, CA, Artists’ Books
- 2002 Mobilivre, traveling artists’ book exhibition, multiple venues, Canada, USA
- 2002 The New Art Forum, Kingston, MA, Book Explorations
- 2001 Turku Fair Center, Turku, Finland, Turku International Book Fair
- 2001 Eastern Edge Gallery, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, Transactions, Artists’ Books
- 2001 Muzeum Piastow Slaskich, Brzeg, Poland, Artists' Books
- 2001 MatrixArts Gallery, Sacramento, California, Artists' Books
- 2001 The New Art Forum, Kingston, MA, Book Explorations
- 2000 Park Chanot - Palais des Congres, Marseille, France, Contemporary Original Books, 3rd International Symposium and Book Fair
- 2000 Dom Artysty Plastyka, Warsaw, Poland, Contemporary Polish Book Art 2000 (catalog), traveling to: Stockholm, Umea, Sweden; Helsinki, Tampere, Mikkeli, Iyvaskyla, Finland, (2001)
- 2000 City Gallery, Szekesfehervar, Hungary, 3rd International Artists’ Book Exhibition (catalog)
- 2000 Dom Artysty Plastyka, Warsaw, Poland, Integrart ’99 (catalog), traveling to: Zamek, Lublin, Galeria Chlodna 20, Suwalki, Muzeum Alfonsa Karnego, Bialystok, Poland; Minsk, Byelorussia
- 2000 Milano Gallery, Warsaw, Polan
- 1999 The Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton, NJ, 11th Annual Juried Small Works Show
- 1999 The New Art Forum, Kingston, MA, Book Explorations ’99
- 1999 Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ
- 1998 FACET, Taos, NM, The Artist Book II, National Juried Exhibition
- 1998 Tucson-Pima Arts Council, Tucson, AZ, Modern Narratives Reconstructing the Book
- 1998 Lionel Rombach Gallery, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, Persistent Scent of Time
- 1998 Northwest Bookfest, Seattle, WA, Juried Book Exhibition
- 1998 Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Tucson Collection ’98
- 1997 Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Group Exhibition
- 1997 Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Tucson Collection ’97
- 1996 The Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton, NJ, 8th Annual Juried Small Works Show
- 1996 Tucson Jewish Community Center, Tucson, AZ, Color My World
- 1996 Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Gallery Mix
- 1996 Local 803 Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Wehr, Cleary, Chassels Jr.
- 1996 Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Tucson Collection ’96
- 1996 Oregon Book Arts Guild, Forest Grove, OR, Endangered, The 4th Oregon Book Biennial (catalog)
- 1996 Seattle Arts Festival, Exhibition Hall, Seattle, WA, Bambershoot Bookfair
- 1995 Cochise College, Sierra Vista, AZ, Paintings of Beata Wehr and Masks
- 1995 Temple Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Tucson Museum of Art Faculty Show ’95
- 1995 Biblioteca Provincial, La Coruna, Spain, Libros de Artista, Book Art Project (catalog)
- 1995 Artisimo Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ, Artescapes, National Juried Exhibition
- 1995 Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Tucson Collection ’95
- 1995 Sierra Art Foundation, Reno, NV, By the Book, Book Arts Exhibition
- 1995 Casa Grande Art Museum, Casa Grande, AZ, Watercolor Invitational
- 1994 Temple Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Tucson Museum of Art Faculty Show ’94
- 1994 Davis Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Tucson Collection ’94
- 1994 The Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton, NJ, Art of the Gardens
- 1994 Casa Grande Art Museum, Casa Grande, AZ, Small Wonders
- 1994 New Doors of the Arts Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Celebration of the Senses
- 1994 Book Arts Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Artists’ Books
- 1993 Shane House Gallery, Tucson, AZ, Women’s Invitational
- 1992 Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ, Ellarsie Open XI
- 1992 The Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton, NJ, 4th Annual Juried Small Works Show
- 1992 Printmaking Council of New Jersey, Somerville, NJ, 8th Small Impressions (traveling show)
- 1991 The Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton, NJ, 3rd Annual Juried Small Works Show
- 1991 Mercer County Community College, Trenton, NJ, Mercer County Artists ’91
- 1991 The Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton, NJ, Angels II, Invitational Show
- 1990 Artworks, Trenton, NJ, Juried Members Show
- 1990 The Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton, NJ, 2nd Annual Juried Small Works Show
- 1990 Mercer County Community College, Trenton, NJ, Mercer County Artists ’90
- Del Bello Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 5th International Exhibition of Miniature Art
Professional Experience
Public Presentations:
2007 Slide lecture, Llotja, Escola Superior de Disseny i Art, Barcelona, Spain
2007 Lecture and workshop, Santa Fe Book Art Group, Santa Fe, NM
2005 Visiting artist lecture and workshop, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO
2004 Artist’s books and immigration, lecture, MOCA, Tucson, AZ
2003 Artist’s books, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
2003 In between, artist’s books, slide lecture, Paperworks, Tucson, AZ
2003 International book art exhibitions in Poland and Lithuania, slide lecture, University of Arizona Museum of Art,, Tucson, AZ
2000 Gallery talk, Pokaz Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
1998 Home/Less: the Polish Experience, lecture, Conference at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Exhibitions Curated
2005 American Artist’s Books, Park Chanot, Marseille, France, Contemporary Creative Books, 8th International Symposium and Book Fair
1998 Tucson-Pima Arts Council, Tucson, AZ, Modern Narratives Reconstructing the Book
1994-5 Abstraction and Small Works Show I and II, Eclectic Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Awards
- 2005 Tucson/Pima Arts Council, Travel Grant
- 2003 Tucson/Pima Arts Council, International Exchange Grant
- 2002 Northwest Bookfest, Seattle, Washington, Honorable Mention
- 1999 University of Arizona Final Project Financial Aid Award
- 1998 Albert M. Haldeman Scholarship, University of Arizona, Tucson
Collections
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Athenaeum, La Jolla, CA
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Atlanta College of Art, Artists’ Book Collection, Atlanta, GA
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Biblioteca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt
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Bokartas, Vilnius, Lithuania
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Book Arts Museum, £ódz, Poland
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Center for Creative Photography, Rare Books, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
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Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA
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Cleveland Art Institute Library, Cleveland, OH
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Duke University, Durham, NC
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Flaxman Library, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
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Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
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Indiana University, School of Fine Arts Library, Artists’ Books Collection, Bloomington, IN
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International Collection of Contemporary Artists’ Books, Marseille, France
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Libros de Artista, Book Art Project Collection, La Coruna, Spain
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Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY
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Maryland Institute of College of Art, Decker Library, Baltimore, MD
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Mobilivre Book Collection, Canada
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National Museum, Warsaw, Poland
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Newark Public Library, The Special Collection Division, Newark, NJ
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Otis School of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
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Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
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Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY
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Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
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State University of New York, Samuel Dorsky Museum, New Paltz, NY
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Texas Tech, Architecture Library, Lubbock, TX
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The King St. Stephen Museum, Artists’ Book Collection, Szekesfehervar, Hungary
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University of Arizona, Special Collections, Tucson, AZ
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UC Berkeley, Environmental Design Library, Berkeley, CA
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UCLA Research Library, Los Angeles, CA
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UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA
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UC Santa Barbara, Davidson, CA
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University of North Carolina, Sloan Art Library, Chapel Hill, NC
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University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
University of Vermont, Special Collections, Burlington, VT
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University of Washington, Department of Special Collections, Seattle, WA
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Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
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Walker Art Center, Library Collection, Minneapolis, MN
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Yale University, Arts of the Book Collection, New Haven, CT
Publications
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M. Regan, "Darkness and Magic", Tucson Weekly, August 16-22, 2007
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M. Regan, "True Characters, Obsidian displays works with the theme: 'Persona'", Tucson Weekly, July 6, 2006
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M. Regan, “Found Art“, Tucson Weekly, August 11, 2005
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C. Imperatore, “Beata Wehr: Telling Time”, in Ampersand, Vol.22, No. 3, Spring 2005
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N. Solomon, Beata Wehr -- “The Artist in Between”, Artists’ Books Reviews#17, Autumn 2004
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C.Burch, R.Wagner, “Sept.11 Sinking in”, Arizona Daily Star, September 11, 2003, E 1-2
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M. Hull Webster, , San Francisco, CA, “[re]Readings : Artist’s Books Now” at Gallery Lux, Artweek, April 2003, p.17
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M. Zaborowska, “The Best View is from the Top: Autobiographical Snapshots, Engendered Communist monuments, and Some Thoughts on (Post)Totalitarian Homelessness” in Framing the Polish Home , ed. B. Shallcross, Indiana University, 2004
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A. Kowalska, “Tozsamosc pomiedzy“, Gazeta Wyborcza, Warszawa, March 15, 2000
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Interview, Warsaw TV, Warsaw, Poland, March 14, 2000
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J.P., “Tesknota w willi Grohmana“, Gazeta Wyborcza, £ódz, December 6, 1999
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M. Tifft, “There’s no place like home, ”Scent of time” persists at Rombach Gallery“, Catalyst October 29, 1998
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K. Nystedt, “From a Different Place“, Desert Leaf, May 1996, 18-19
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M. Regan, Disparate Measures“, Tucson Weekly, March 14-20, 1996, vol.13, no. 1, 32-33
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