Nova Czarnecki
Honeyed
Honeyed features a young woman whose dress is made of water as the central focus, standing within a Wisconsin summer forest just beginning its transition into autumn. The folds of her gown meld into water that holds native Wisconsin fish, floating flowers, fruits that have fallen from the trees above and a fawn coming to drink. The woman’s clothing is a simple denim jacket paired with a ball gown.
Czarnecki hopes the viewer can see themselves in the painting and see themselves as royalty. Observers of the painting will be reminded that it is the simple things in life that make it sublime. The image illustrates the fact that people in Wisconsin have access to clean water and how water is central to all life.
The brightness of the colors is intended to uplift the passerby, adding to the energy and excitement of whatever event brings them to Baird Center. Overall, the effect may appear to be the whimsy of a fairytale, yet it is a portrait of the real Milwaukee resident and the natural beauty of Wisconsin of which its residents are an inextricable part.
The Great Unthawing
The Great Unthawing features a young man bringing spring to a frozen Lake Michigan. It is a testament to the full beauty that Milwaukee and the life within it has to offer in its shifting seasons.
Native Wisconsin animals and birds awaken and leap alongside him from the rift opening to spring in a celebration of life. Cardinals, goldfinches and owls are joined by an elk and a fox while frogs and swans play in the water that is the platform for the entire seasonal transition. Cranberries float at his feet like humble jewels, highlighting the abundant gifts of water, but also the incredible fact that Wisconsin is the leading producer of cranberries in the nation.
The collage of human and nature is meant to inspire pride within the Milwaukee resident. It speaks to the specialness of what it means to live in a state with four distinct seasons. Winter serves to build strength and character in the people of Milwaukee’s community. It gives the Milwaukeean the ability to see beauty that others might miss. While, spring brings the promise of joy waiting on the other side of hard times. The honeycomb of his chest speaks to our power as individuals to carry warmth and joy within our hearts no matter the weather outside.
Honeyed and The Great Unthawing can be viewed as separate pieces of art. But they also play off of each other, portraying all four seasons and water in its different forms during those seasons. They share the same flowers and intense uplifting colors to create a cohesion between the two pieces. Both figures feature honeycomb at their chests, carrying the true hearts of gold that show the literal continuation of the life cycle in which honey plays a crucial role and the metaphorical love that is crucial to our environment and our world.
About Nova Czarnecki
Nova Czarnecki lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She works with oil paint, creating vibrant life-sized images of figures in motion, emotional portraits, and amped-up nature.
Her paintings reveal the human experience in colorful explosions of alternate reality, using lyrical movement and design to make the unseen seen.
In her work, she has studied elaborate cityscapes, structured patterns, and the earthly elements with realistic clarity, and has also investigated organic life, sometimes dripping or swirling with playful fantasy. She paints the human figure primarily in black and white because it emphasizes the contrasts that humans deal with in both their inner and outer worlds. She then combines the figures with colored patterns or images of nature that convey those hidden and emotional persuasions or blessings people carry.
Czarnecki finds inspiration in nature and considers the connection between what can actually be touched and what is transcendent.
“The intrinsic power that each element of nature has is undeniable, and when combined or matched with each other, one is either enhanced or defeated,” according to Czarnecki. “To me, my paintings are like a healing prayer. When I am replacing parts of the figure with nature and animals it is the healing of that person or that gender or that culture.”
Her major works include the murals “Witness to the Wild” at Sprocket Café and “Ranjanna” at Outpost Natural Foods in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood, plus murals in the Harbor District, West Elm building in downtown Milwaukee, downtown Menomonee Falls and Mellody Farms in Illinois.
Czarnecki was awarded the Professional Dimensions’ Imprint Award in 2023. Her works have been exhibited at the Copro Gallery in LA, Hofheimer Gallery in Chicago, James Watrous Gallery in Madison and the Frank Juarez Gallery in Milwaukee. She has a degree in painting from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD).
Q&A with Nova Czarnecki
