DANUTA ZAMOJSKA HUTCHINS

My first work in the studio was in the ceramic classes of Warren MacKenzie, at the U. of Minnesota. I then studied with Phil Cornelius, in California, while my theory and aesthetic perspective came from the lectures at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in Poland. I earned a doctorate in Modern Languages and Linguistics (U. of Minnesota, 1987); yet, since my early childhood, art has always been my first love and passion. Finally, in 1996, my professorship in modern languages and literatures at Westmar University ended and I became a full time artist.

I then studied watercolor techniques with two notable Iowa painters Richard Duffy and Wendell Mohr, and subsequently explored sculpture and other art media as a student of Mac Hornecker, Dennis Dykema, Bruce Ellingson, Greg Fry, Rusty Farrington, and Mary Mello Nee all at Buena Vista University. Additional graphic design and computer art courses broadened my access to the digital media, especially valuable in producing “Prairie and Woodland Flowers Coloring Book”, and “Torn out Memories” for BV County Historical Museum and my most recent book for children, formatted with the assistance of B.V.U. Professor Rebecca Frates.

I sculpt in stone, metal, and wood, experimenting also with various techniques in printmaking, computer graphics, oil, water media, and egg tempera paintings. Incorporating ceramic forms on wood panels painted in egg tempera, I am promoting this vibrant medium in my workshops at the area art museums and galleries.

I am concerned with the ephemeral moments of human interaction and portray them in my art to direct us away from the territorial to the temporal self.  Focusing on the subtle relationships between nature and human emotions I aim at the symbolic elements of landscapes, showing these enveloped in mists, rain, or imbued with a mysterious light. Human figures are essential presence in many of these landscapes. The titles of my works often allude to and draw upon my other art pursuits: poetry and classical music.

Currently I am listed among the Humanities Iowa Speakers Bureau presenters with several art topics. Among those are “Sacred and Profane Art” - the ways artists represent human image from the sacred icons of the Byzantine period through the Renaissance images of human body, and finally through the contemporary art and caricatures. Other subjects include: “Sienese Painters of Egg Tempera”, several on Slavic art, music, literature, poetry and culture throughout centuries. All my talks are illustrated with pictures in PowerPoint of art works under discussion.

The exhibit, titled “Angels and Other Beings”, shows mostly acrylic paintings on wood. I have long been fascinated by images of angels throughout centuries, those in churches, and in books, such as the Fra Angelico angels, and those of Siena egg tempera master Giovanni di Paolo. My earliest recollection of angel image is that of a small painting over the head board of my childhood bed. There, a very subtle, winged, bright figure was shielding a small child as she was crossing a stream over a bridge in which several planks were missing.

I am here sharing for your enjoyment my views of angles planted in various sceneries I have originally sketched during our travels throughout the U.S. and abroad. I believe, though invisible, angels and spiritual beings accompany our earthly existence, and I hope to see them when I die. I am grateful for the Witter Gallery, its director Ron Stevenson and all who made this exhibit come to life.

Workshops I have offered are: 

Egg Tempera, painting techniques (Sioux City Art Center, Witter Gallery)

Figurative and Perspective Drawing (Sioux City Art Center, Witter Gallery, Pearson Art Center)

Egg Tempera and Egyptian Paste – for Chemistry in Art interim at B.V.U.

Sculpting Figures in Terra Cotta and other clay media (Pearson Art Center)

COVER –to- COVER, create your own books, story and illustrations, Pearson ArtCenter.

                      ART EXHIBITS AND JURIED SHOWS

1995  February solo exhibit, Teikyo Westmar University, LeMars, Iowa;

1995  American Landscapes, WarsawU.,(Intl. Congress of Slavists, Poland);

1996  Jack London’s Neighbor, a watercolor, Iowa Salon XIX, Brunnier, ISU, Ames;

1996  red and white ribbons at Iowa Artists regional show;

1996  sculpture “Swiatowid”,Summer Student show at BVU, Storm Lake,IA;

1997  two paintings at the Biennial of Witter Gallery, Storm Lake, Iowa;

1997  sculpture “Pulaski”, Summer Student  show at BVU, Storm Lake, Iowa;

1997  Pilgrims Rocks, a watercolor, Iowa Salon XX, Brunnier, ISU, Ames, Iowa;

1998  blue and red ribbons at Iowa Artists Regional show;

1999  February solo exhibit, Sanford Planetarium & Art Museum, Cherokee, Iowa;

1999  egg tempera workshop offered at Sioux City Art Museum, Sioux City, Iowa; 

2000  selection of works in Sanford's exhibit: Views of the New Millennium

2000  February 3rd - March 5th, selected paintings in Des Moines Botanical Center;

2000  sculpture exhibit at BVU, Storm Lake, Iowa;

2000  blue and yellow ribbons for painting and sculpture, Iowa Artists juried show;

2000  a woodcut print at the BVU's Summer exhibit, Storm Lake, Iowa;

2000   OUR LAND: A CELEBRATION, Sioux City Art Center, Jul.25-Aug.27.

2004   SILENTLY, solo exhibit of paintings, the Witter Gallery of Storm Lake;

2005   BLUES, 2 entries, juried show, Midwestern artists, Sanford Museum, Cherokee;

2005   Solo exhibit of paintings at the BVC Hospital Art Gallery, April - May

2006   ELEMENTS a sculpture selected for a year-long exhibit in Sioux City, IA.

2007    Afternoon with the Blues, 2 entries, juried show at Sanford Museum, Cherokee

2008   JACOBS LADDER a sculpture, a juried entry in Sculpt SiouxLand annual venue 

2008    Solo exhibit entitled ALL THE CREATURES BIG AND SMALL, 

           recent sculptures, prints and paintings, Witter Gallery, Storm Lake, Iowa.

2009   A PUFF OF SMOKE a sculpture in metal and wood, referring to human condition, 

           Another juried entry in Sculpt SiouxLand.  

2016   Angels and Other Beings  solo in the Witter Gallery, Storm Lake, Iowa

2017  Solo in Sioux City Art Center

2018  A Posy for the 85th, solo exhibit, the Blanden Art Museum’s Anniversary, Fort Dodge, IA

2021  Lighthouse - images on a sculpture (juried show), outdoor exhibit, Storm Lake, IA 

SOME NOTABLE OWNERS OF HUTCHINS' WORKS:

University College, Oxford University, Oxford, England – multicolor etching “Unveiling Maui”,

HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, UK (an etching: Great Park Talisman),

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, “Chased by geese” – watercolor on paper, 

“A Letter from home”an etching,( in Volunteers’ Office), West Branch, Iowa,

Mayo Clinic of Rochester Minnesota, (“Peonies”at West Wing, 8th floor, main clinic bldg.),

Mr. Ted Waitt, founder of "Gateway" Corporation, sculpture “Get in Touch”,

Vigorena, the Hubbard Corp., Alta Iowa, 

Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, an etching “Misty StormLake”,

Dr. M. Lacher of  Pfizer Corporation, formerly in La Jolla, California;

Dr. Maria Hutchins then of Alza Corporation, California, an oil painting “Zinias”,

University of Oregon, Doane College, Buena Vista University, (works of various media)

Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa,University of Paris, France, Sioux City Art Center,

Buena Vista County Historical Museum (four wall-size murals, completed in May, 2000, two egg-tempera wood panels, Indian village activities, entitled “Homage to N.C. Wyeth”, backdrops for the Milcreek Culture archeological artifacts exhibited in the custom built permanent display case, 2009).Several are held by private collectors in Poland, England, Germany, Philippines, in  Canada as well as in the USA: California, N.Y., Minnesota, Nebraska, Michigan, Maryland, Kansas and Maine.