Born in Chicago, John Kowalczyk lives and works in Milwaukee, WI as a community artist and educator. Kowalczyk received his BFA in painting from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2010 and began a three year residency with RedLine Milwaukee soon after, curating gallery exhibitions. While simultaneously working on the Art Express Program in collaboration with the Milwaukee Art Museum, he developed a passion for community art.
After his time at Redline, John began working with Artists Working in Education Inc. as a lead artist in resident and quickly became enamored with the entire process of public art. The Mitchell Park Mural, Doerfler Intersection Mural, and Health Equity Mural are a few highlights of the work he has accomplished with A.W.E. as a lead artist over the past three years. His desire to serve the nonprofit arts sector is immense and his breadth of program knowledge in art education and community art serve him well in his role as Program Director for Artists Working in Education, Inc.
Kowalczyk has also worked with Arts at Large as a resident artist with Bay View High School in 2014, The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra as an artist in resident with Milwaukee Parkside School for the Arts in 2017, and most recently ArtWorks for Milwaukee as a lead artist educator, where he helped develop an art internship for high school students to learn entrepreneurial and 21st century job skills through art-making.
In his free time Kowalczyk has an active fine art practice and regularly shows at galleries and museums around the world. His work has been exhibited at The Museum of Wisconsin Art, The Kholer Art Center, The Siena Art Institute in Italy, and The Charles Allis Museum along with other galleries and museums.
Learn more about John and his work at http://www.johnkowalczykart.com/