Krysia Nowak

Krysia Nowak (born 1948), also known as Krysia Danuta Michna-Nowak, is a British painter and designer of Polish descent, working in mixed media.

Early life Daughter of Squadron Leader and Henrietta Nowak, Krysia attended Notre Dame High School, Sheffield and the Henry Hartland Grammar School, Worksop. Nowak decided at the age of 11 that her sole ambition was to be an artist, something she pursued despite initial discouragement from her parents.

Further education Krysia Nowak studied at Ealing College (now known as the West London College) graduating with a BA in the History of Art, French and Spanish in 1970. This was followed by a post-graduate certificate of education from Garnett College, London in 1973.

The art critic Frances Spalding suggested that Nowak's Polish upbringing and a possible love of Marc Chagall contributed to the melancholy mood of her solo show at the Philip Francis Gallery in Sheffield in 1979.

In the 1970s and 1980s figures from the Commedia dell'arte, the cabaret and the circus were her favourite motifs, revealing deep reflection, rebellion, elements of the grotesque and of tragic farce.

In the book Polish Art in Great Britain 1940–2000 (2006), Alicja Drweska compared Nowak's work to the Swedish/Polish oil painter Nils Berndtson who had a solo exhibition at the Drian Galleries a year before Nowak in the 1970s. She said Nowak's drawings and monoprints exhibited at the Drian Galleries in 1978 were 'like illustrations of dreams, poetry, longings created in a plastic form, bound with poetry, philosophy and dramas from her own person experiences – thematic anecdotes, but presented with a painterly composition – beautiful warm tones of browns, violets, through a veil of black'. During her time at Sheffield she introduced many innovative projects and initiatives to promote the arts, which were reported in local and national newspapers. Her aim was to make museums less intimidating, more relevant and amusing places for the people of Sheffield to work into their daily lives. In 1976, in response to the artist Carl Andre's brick sculpture at the Tate Gallery in London, Nowak arranged for approximately 750 bricks to be placed on the grass outside the Mappin Art Gallery in Sheffield so that the public could create their own brick sculpture. In the same year she arranged for local citizens to paint a 650-yard open air mural on newsprint in Weston Park, Sheffield creating a record for the longest painting in the world at that time.

Public lectures: The series was created by the Sheffield Women and Education Group as non-sexist and multi-ethnic series of books for children. 1986 – BBC Radio Sheffield – roving art reporter In 2012 Nowak was involved in the production of a biography/diary of her father, Squadron Leader Władysław Jan Nowak.

Exhibitions In 1974 Nowak exhibited 57 works at Worksop Public Library with Margaret C Topham. In this exhibition Nowak used multiple mediums including watercolour, ink drawing, acrylic, oil, conte and gouache but the themes of the exhibition remained uniform. The critic Denis Bowen said that her images were 'reminiscent of Leonor Fini and extremely personal, drawn in pen and wash against curtains of drifting colour achieved by pressing and rubbing painted surfaces'. The Women's International Art Club, 1975 Camden Arts Centre, London. The Women's International Art Club, 1976, London.

Selected solo exhibitions include: Boxfield Gallery, Stevenage Arts & Leisure Centre, 2003 North Hertfordshire Museum, Hitchin, 2019

Collections Examples of her work are held by Worksop Town Hall, Gray's College, Durham and Toruń University, Poland.