Some Facts about Anka
My Beginning
I was born in Manchester Uk.
As well as home to two rival soccer teams, Man City and United, it was the home to my beloved Polish emigre parents and their colourful friends.
These friendships scattered across the world by WWII, and consolidated by the closing of the Iron Curtain, gave me the opportunity to meet people and travel in a way that many of my more affluent British friends did not. Everyone who dropped in for dinner stayed the night. And that meant there was a bed in a spare room already waiting somewhere for me to find: Amsterdam, Antwerp, Paris,Toronto, Valetta, and Warsaw .....just for starters, imagine them in the 1970s.....
Formal Education
PGCE University of Warwick, UK,
specialisation in Art curriculum development .
BA (Hons) Literature, School of African and Asian Studies, University of Sussex, UK
Graduate work in Museum Studies at Leicester University,UK
Studio art studies at Camden Arts Centre (foundation year), London, UK .
Corcoran College of Art and Design. Washington DC.
Studied ceramics at The Pottery Workshop in Hong Kong with professor Fiona Wong Lai Ching
Engagement and Giving Back
Former docent giving tours to the general public and school groups at The Kreeger Museum, The Corcoran Gallery, The Asia Society, Hong Kong Center and Art Instructor for OLLI at their American University chapter. Currently, school docent at The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Work (selected)
Instructor, The Yellow Barn ,Glen Echo, MD.
Taught Introduction to Drawing, Pastel Painting and Watercolour
Art Teacher, Khartoum American School, Khartoum, Sudan.
Art Teacher, The Kellett School, Hong Kong
Writer, ARTplus+ Hong Kong. Monthly column based on interviews with prominent artists, art collectors and gallerists.
Mentor Corcoran “Artreach” youth outreach program (a program that became Artreach GW now at THEARC ). Took part in two, two year cycles of partnering with at risk high school aged youth looking to art as a possible career.
Adjunct faculty Corcoran College of Art and Design,
Designed and taught weekend and summer classes for children age 6-14 years
Designed and implemented exhibition related public art-making experiences at the Corcoran, The Textile Museum, and the Smithsonian’s Museum of African Art.
Teaching artist and Head of Public Relations and Marketing at the Kreeger Museum
Exhibitions
Exhibited in juried local shows at :
The Yellow Barn, Glen Echo, Maryland,
The Hill Center, Washington D.C.,
The Griffin Art Center, Frederick, M.D.
Friendship Gallery, Chevy Chase M.D.
The Serpentine Dance Studio, Bethesda, M.D.
Amongst many others…