Dream Painting

Elizabeth Szymczak is originally from Chicago, but has international collectors and exhibitions. Her work is part of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater's permanent collection, where she got a Bachelor’s of Science in Art Education and a Dance minor. She is one of the founding officers of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Dance Company (UWWDC), an official university organization. Inside the company, Elizabeth was the founding director of the Emerging Choreographer’s Concert (ECC). Both initiatives still exist to date. Upon graduation, Elizabeth’s strength as a visual communicator and extensive training in all fine art media landed her a job as a middle school technological literacy instructor. During that time, she was on the Technology Standards Review Committee, working with a team to update curriculum standards to reflect 21st Century best practices, the work was presented and approved by the board of education. She was also awarded a Technology grant for an animation unit she authored. A year later, she was teaching art for a K-8 school district, where she provided an incredible amount of enrichment opportunities for her students and community. For example, she spearheaded an annual district-wide exhibition by partnering with the local library for Youth Art Month, a collaboration that awarded the library a generous grant from the Illinois Library Association in 2013. From 2009-2012, Elizabeth Szymczak attended the Academy of Art University where she received an MFA in Representational Drawing & Painting. In the summer of 2010, she studied landscape painting en plein air in Italy. After graduate school, Szymczak continued painting, exhibiting, directing, performing and choreographing along with teaching full time. She grew increasingly interested in arts advocacy initiatives. For instance, she designed the Illinois Art Education Association member’s online gallery, which celebrates the artist-teacher and serves to inspire other art educators and students. Elizabeth was awarded Best of Show at the Libertyville Fine Arts Festival 2012, which landed her a position teaching adult oil painting at the David Adler Music & Arts Center in Libertyville, Illinois. Since then, Elizabeth transitioned her focus into teaching higher education, arts administration and spending more of her studio time on her own paintings.