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Sonya Evanisko Sonya is currently a producing artist and a Professor of Art at Shepherd University. She is Chair of the Dept. of Art and coordinates the Painting and Drawing program. She has been with the college since 1993. She received her B.F.A from Indiana University of PA in 1989 and her M.F.A. from Indiana State University, IN. in 1992. She has exhibited her work at many regional and national exhibitions, including The Cork Gallery at Lincoln Center, New York City, NY; The Millennium Arts Center, Washington, D.C.; The Three River’s Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA; The State Captial Museum in Charleston,WV; Stifel Fine Arts Center, Wheeling, WV; Tamarack, Beckley, WV; Avampato Discovery Museum, Charleston, WV; Museum in the Community, Hurricane, WV; Delaplaine and Blue Elephant Arts Centers, Frederick, MD; The ART House, Leesburg, VA; The International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Florence, Italy; Orensanz Arts Foundation, New York City, NY; Kent State Univ., Ohio; Lamar Univ., Texas; Kansas City Art Institute, MO; and Montserrat College of Art, MA. Her work was featured in the 1998 edition of New American Paintings published by The Open Studios Press, Wellesley MA. and can be seen in several public and private collections in the US and Europe. |
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For fifteen years, tornados have occupied Evanisko’s work as a metaphor for creative/destructive tendencies. They are a natural, normal force — yet they’re viewed as being so devastating to humans and their consumer goods.
Coupon pages, advertisements, popular magazines and printed reproductions provide source material for the mixed media collages. Images are recycled and resurrected from one source — reexamined, transformed and altered in context— so viewers are challenged to dissect the meaning, arrive at new messages, and question what constitutes their values and desires.
The work asks: Is it creative or destructive? In the aftermath of disaster or desire, what good is our obsession with acquiring and what do we make of the overwhelming heap of haphazardly discarded goods? Like most contemporary art, the work confronts pressing social, cultural, and political issues —art doesn’t always present fixed messages but may contribute to insightful dialogues. Oftentimes more questions are raised than answered.
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