Pat Proniewski, currently pursuing realist renderings of pastoral landscapes and florals, received her BA degree in art education at Georgian Court University where her primary studio focus was painting and ceramic art. While living briefly in NYC she worked in an advertising agency and took studio arts courses at the School of Visual Arts, later returning home to Toms River, New Jersey to teach high school art. She moved to Trenton, New Jersey to continue her 37-year career teaching high school visual arts. During that time her painting work took a turn toward realism while studying with Mel Leipzig. She began to slowly move away from painting and towards full time clay work from 1995 to 2013 as she designed and implemented a full-time ceramic program. Her work primarily in clay led her to graduate study in ceramics at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, additionally taking professional workshops with ceramic artists William Daley, Jimmy Clark, and Linda Arbuckle. Over the course of two decades, Proniewski experimented with many processes with clay including sculptural forms constructed from wheel work, pit firing, and raku firing.
Retirement from teaching allowed Proniewski to return to painting while still working in clay. Her attraction to the landscape during the past several years has shifted her interest to painting full time, while she continued her professional painting development by studying with John Ennis. Proniewski paints primarily in oil in a realist style, and she finds nature her greatest source of inspiration. Sunlit scenes, especially those intensely lit during the late afternoon, lure her to paint the landscape.
Proniewski’s paintings have been exhibited, many receiving awards, in local, regional and national juried shows and in galleries throughout New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, including the prestigious “Ellarslie Open,” at The Trenton City Museum, and “The Annual Art Show at Phillips’ Mill,” in PA. Proniewski’s awards include international recognition as a Finalist in the 2019 Richeson 75 Small Works International Juried Competition in which three of her paintings were recognized. She received a Meritorious Award in the 2017 Richeson 75 Still Life and Floral International Juried Competition. The works from these competitions were published in exhibition books. Her painting “Bridge Street Stroll,” was recognized nationally in the 64th Annual Juried Exhibition of the National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic, Inc. held at the prestigious Salmagundi Club in NYC. Recently, her painting “Lisianthus II“ was selected for the Allied Artists of American, Inc. 107th Annual Juried Exhibit of 2020, typically held at the Salmagundi Club, NY, NY. However, due to the Coronavirus it will be held solely online for a full year. Her work, “Carrion” was accepted into “The Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, NY, Online Associate Members Juried Exhibit for 2020. Most recently her painting “Lisianthus II” received the Ampersand Award for Painting in the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Juried Exhibit for 2021, exhibited at the Salmagundi Club, NY, NY May, 2021. Matrimonial Mesa the Ghost Ranch” was selected for the Allied Artists of America, Inc. 106th Annual Juried Exhibit of 2019 and the 107th Annual Juried Exhibit of 2020 (online due to Covid) at the Salmagundi Club, NY, NY. She recently received a honorable mention in the Professional Watercolor Division of the NJ State Senior Art Exhibit.
Proniewski is a full juried member of both the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, NY, NY and the Allied American Artists, NY, NY, and she is an active member in a number of art communities in including: Oil Painters of America, The National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic, Inc. NY, The Phillips Mill Art Community, The Artists of Yardley Art Center, Artsbridge, The Arts & Cultural Council of Bucks County, The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, and The Willingboro Art Alliance. She is a proud mother and grandmother, currently living in NJ with her husband.
Proniewski is represented by The Euphemia Gallery, 1319 Third Ave., Spring Lake, NJ. 07762, (973)998-1141.