Ilene Spiewak
Ilene Spiewak engages colors in a fearless application of paint as if they were having an intimate conversation; the discourse is passionate. Spiewak paints in ways that embody sensitivity, vulnerability, and fragility; she makes images of objects to trace beyond a replica of her own life. When painting, whether still-life or figure, everyday things become objects for her gaze. Spiewak’s work is driven by subconscious instincts and her life-long love of paint.
In current times of disruption, restricted space and solitude, she paints where things touch and don’t touch, pushing to the edge.
Palette and composition are rendered down to elements that matter.
Paint matters. Relationships matter.
In her studio practice, she exposes herself to herself physically and psychologically.
Alone in her little red studio, loaded brush in hand, she paints with a searching gaze and war-like courage.
Spiewak earned her Master’s Degree in Art Therapy from Hahnemann University Hospital in 1995. In 2017, she earned her Master’s in Fine Art from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Spiewak is currently a Museum Educator at the Clark Institute of Art in Williamstown, MA.
Exhibitions: American Portraiture Today, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery 2022 Outwin Boochever Selected Finalist, Washington DC; Orlando Museum of Art, FL, 2023; The Ackland Art Museum, NC, 2023; Grand Rapids Art Museum, MI, 2023; D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Exhibition and Artist’s Talk, Springfield, MA 2024; No Synthetic Colors, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 2024.
Distillations, ReFresh, multiple other juried exhibitions at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, Berkshire Art Association; multiple juried exhibitions at the Berkshire Museum of Art, Pittsfield, MA, and various other local arts venues.
West Stockbridge, MA | Visit: Ilene Spiewak
