Pat Proniewski
6 Valley Road
Hamilton Square, NJ 08690
(609) 890-2943 (609) 213-6299
Artist Statement
Perhaps I’m a landscape or floral painter. Whatever the case, it’s the light and the drama it creates which is the real subject of my work, and has fascinated me since childhood. Painting affords me the opportunity to study and interpret light and its ability to create shadow, model form, punctuate textures, define space, set a mood, and emphasize the subtleties of color. Often as the work speaks to me, I'm inspired to embellish or simplify what I see. Whatever is done, I aim for the viewer to examine the reality I consider before me.
Bio
Pat Proniewski, currently pursuing realist renderings of pastoral landscapes, florals and other genres, 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 shifted her interest to painting full time, while she continued her professional painting development by studying with John Ennis and others. Proniewski paints primarily in oil in a realist style, and she finds nature her greatest source of inspiration.
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 “Ellarslie Open,” at The Trenton City Museum, and “The Annual Art Show at Phillips’ Mill,” in PA. Proniewski’s recent awards include the 2025 Painting Award for “On the Pond at Grounds for Sculpture” at the renowned Ellarslie Open 42, Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ, which was awarded by the juror Sheryl Liebman Fisher, Associate Director at Gallery Henock, Manhattan, NY. The Painting Award was sponsored by Mel Leipzig. Her painting “Vestiges of Trenton, Whitehead Road” received the purchase award at the 2026, Mercer County Artists Exhibit at MCCC. Also, recently her painting “On the Canal” received the Award in Memory of Bill Tinsman for an Image that Captures the Beauty of the Area He sought to Preserve, given by the Lumberville Founder’s Day Committee at the 94th Annual Art Show at Phillips Mill, New Hope, PA. October, 2023. “Love Token” was awarded the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Award for Floral Theme at the Ellarslie Open 40 2023, NJ and her painting, “Fishy,” received 2nd place in the Professional Oil Division in the Mercer County Senior Art Show, 2023. She received international recognition as a Finalist in the Richeson 75 Small Works International Juried Competition in which three of her paintings were recognized, and she received a Meritorious Award in the 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. “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, it was exhibited solely online due to the coronavirus. Her work, “Lisianthus II received the Ampersand Award for painting in the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe 107th Juried Exhibit for 2021, exhibited at the Salmagundi Club, NY, NY May, 2021. “Carrion” was juried into “The Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, NY, Online Associate Members Juried Exhibit for 2020. “Matrimonial Mesa the Ghost Ranch” was selected for the Allied Artists of America, Inc. 106th Annual Juried Exhibit of 2019 and exhibited at the Salmagundi Club, NY, NY. She received an honorable mention in the Professional Watercolor Division of the NJ State Senior Art Exhibit 2021, for her painting “Ishmael’s House.”
Proniewski is a full juried member of the Oil Painters of America, the Allied Artists of America and the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, both of NY, NY, and an active member in a number of art communities in including: The National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic, Inc. NY, The Phillips Mill Art Community, The Artists of Yardley Art Center, The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie. 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, and at As You Like It Gallery & Frame Studio, 6140 Lower York Rd., New Hope, PA 18938 (Route 202) (215) 794-2787, Countryside Gallery & Custom Frame Design, 2 S State St., Newtown, PA 18940, (215) 968-2246
Full resume can be found at www.patproniewski.com