Maria’s passion for art was initiated in her early childhood with her father’s detailed drawings of sailboats. She decided to go to the Art High School in her hometown Lomza in Poland. She spent four years there doing plenty of painting, drawing, sculpting, photography, film, animation and design projects. After graduating from high school Maria decided to focus her life almost completely on art.
She said: “I made a very independent and brave decision to move the UK to study at the University of Sunderland. I was attracted to the different teaching techniques, the way of treating students and the amazing facilities.”
During the first semester of her BA (Hons) Fine Art Maria applied to the Mike Davies Scholars Fund and was one of the four successful recipients who are receiving a financial support package of up to £1,000 per year and bespoke 1-1 mentoring opportunities with Mike Davies CBE.
Maria said: “I’m hoping Mike’s mentorship support will help my ideas to be finally transformed into physical forms.
“Seeing someone else being this successful, organised and creative is one of the most inspiring things. Having a chance to learn something from them about the technical part of their work is actually overwhelming.”
She added: “This scholarship will also be a huge financial help. It will help me buy my own materials to gain experience and learn new things. I will also use part of the funds to go to exhibitions, galleries and museums, which I only know from pictures and books.”
Maria has been busy during her second year doing a series of illustrations inspired by Hubble telescope photos and photos of the sky that she has taken.
She said: “It's something that would always make me feel better. Something that would allow me to just enjoy the views and think how small I am in the whole huge universe and that all the bad things will go away eventually. The person who showed me how beautiful the sky can be and what astronomy is was my grandma, when she took me to the planetarium when I was just a few years old. Then my dad and I would also spend time together looking at special things in the sky, eclipses, falling stars, sunsets, etc.
She continued: “For this project I have used a varied range of techniques: drawing, watercolour and acrylic painting, linocuts, digital and screenprinting. I'm also going to try sewing an illustration on fabric because I got a whole set of colourful threads and a new sewing machine (which I partially paid for with the scholarship).
“Essentially I would like to put the illustration in a little book made with different kinds of paper (for example it could be a tracing paper, kraft paper, coloured paper) to make the pictures look more interesting and to find the best background for each of them. I've already made one little book with different materials and I loved the effect even when it wasn't professionally made but just sewed by myself.
“The financial help from the Mike Davies Scholars Fund has been even more valuable during lockdown when we couldn’t access the university studios, as I have been able to buy my own materials and work at home.”
She concluded: “My dream plan is to become a brave and independent artist, who won’t be scared of their own art and ideas, and who’d be able to confidently exhibit them.”