About the Wena Gallery
The motivation and inspiration for creating the Gallery came from visits to art schools implementing educational and artistic concepts that had won awards in the Wena Grant Program competitions.
In conversations with young people, we heard above all a great desire to present their work outside the school studio. This is an expression of the natural need for every artist to establish a dialogue with the audience, says Wiesława Giedrojć, Member of the Board of the Starak Family Foundation.
Since 2023, the Gallery has been cooperating with art high schools, organizing regular temporary exhibitions, presenting works created in educational and artistic projects, awarded in the “Wena” Grant Program Competitions or clearly inspired by them. It often juxtaposes them with archives from art schools or with works by teachers who are established artists on the art market and who remain in a master-student relationship. The presented objects are characterized by: the maturity of young artists - brought out and shaped by their teachers, original techniques, often used and explored for the first time as part of classes that go beyond the basic school curriculum. Every visitor to the “Wena” Gallery will encounter art characterized by youthful energy, creativity, unbridled fantasy and imagination, and sometimes rebellion, uncertainty, and shyness.
In addition to cyclical exhibitions, the “Wena” Gallery presents a permanent exhibition:
“Personal Fragments”
A poster presenting a large-format mosaic and ceramic objects - details of the mosaic in the form of two original fragments, made by Amelia Ćwiek, a student at the Secondary School of Fine Arts in Żory. The works come from the “Personal Fragments” project, carried out by the Secondary School of Fine Arts in Żory under the supervision of teacher and artist Dr. Małgorzata Szram-Lipka, awarded in the third edition of the ‘Wena’ Grant Program Competition of the Starak Family Foundation entitled “The World from My Window.”
“Two Omens - Hope and Rebirth”
Diploma thesis by Martyna Zniszczoł, graduate of the Secondary School of Fine Arts in Żory. Large-format mosaic entitled “Two Omens - Hope and Rebirth.” The work was recognized during the thesis defense and at the Biennial of Distinguished Diploma Theses in Częstochowa.
“Culture doesn't hurt. Me + You = Us!”
A project carried out by the Jacek Malczewski State Secondary School of Fine Arts in Częstochowa, under the supervision of graphic design teachers Elżbieta Siwik and Agnieszka Tyrman, awarded in the second edition of the “Wena” Grant Program Competition entitled “Closeness and interpersonal relationships.”
