Shirleyanne Ratajczak

Crazy artist in control.

Philadelphia, PA 1947-Nicetown
Art making, a family experience, started for me, as soon as my memory began to take hold. House windows were always painted with the icons of the season by my older siblings; and I was assigned, the latter task of window washing, because I am the youngest child in the family of five. The blending and smudges of color fascinated me, more than the Pumpkins and Santa’s; and so did the colored light, that shinned, on the floor and the walls, from the stained glass windows, of our Philadelphia Victorian Row House.

The spots on the sidewalk, at St. Marks Square; the garden patches, in the center of the street; and the movement of clouds, up in the sky; became images, in stories that I would tell, to the rest of the kids on the block. My teaching, started at age 13, after leadership training at the Nicetown Club for Boys and Girls, which was monitored by a Community Outreach Program sponsored by Temple University; but I am finished teaching now, I am just a ‘sideliner‘. I visited my old haunt recently, and found Nicetown a changed community. The youth club and my house are still standing. What we referred to as “bombed out” structures are gone, and new life is emerging.

I live in Maine, now. The thirty-seven years in Waterville, has deepened the aesthetic, that is my birthright.

Shirleyanne Ratajczak

Education

1982 MA Arts Administration - University of Maine, Orono

Fellowships

1998 Humanitas Institute - Topsham, Maine

1997 Christopher Columbus Creative Thinking Institute - Houston, Texas

1994 Creating New England - University of Southern Maine, Gorham, Maine

1992 Leonardo Institute - Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

1991 Artreach Summer Institute - Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine

Grants/Awards

2006 Purchase Prize - Waterville Downtown Arts Festival

1996 Fame Grant, New England School of Communication, Hussan College, Bangor

Solo Art Exhibitions

2007 Railroad Square, Waterville, Me

1981 University of Maine, Orono, Me

1980 University of Maine, Farmington, Me

Juried Art Exhibitions

2007 Juried Show, Harlow Gallery, Hallowell, Maine

2006 Juried Show, Harlow Gallery, Hallowell, Maine

1981 Maine Biennial, University of Southern Maine, Gorham, Maine

1979 Spectra 1, Westbrook College, Westbrook , Maine

1979 Maine Biennial, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine

1978 Exhibition of American Art, State of Maine Building, Poland, Maine

Invitational Art Exhibitions

2007 Blue Marble Galley, Maine Street, Waterville, Maine

1983 Fabrications, Maine Coast Artists, Rockport, Maine

1982 Fiber and Fabric, University of Maine, Augusta, Maine (Curator)

1980 Camden Hills Site Show, Union of Maine Visual Artists, Camden, Maine

1978 Six Women Artist II - Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine

Additional Group Exhibitions: Mail Art, Colby, College, Waterville, Maine; Union of Maine Visual Artists Exhibits: Maine Artist Week, 4 years; SOHO Gallery, New York, New York; Open Space Gallery, Bangor; Portland Art Building, Portland, Maine; O’Farrel Gallery, Brunswick, Maine; Unity College, Unity, Maine. Personal Exhibits: Seton Hospital, Waterville, Maine; Johann Sabastian B, Oakland, Maine, Atlanta, Georgia; Lexington, Kentucky; Boys Clubs of American Regional and National Exhibits: Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York.