Longtime Oxford area resident, Sylvia Majewska, is the new Director of the Starkweather Art and Cultural Center in downtown Romeo.
As Director, Sylvia is excited about increasing the visibility of the art gallery, reintroducing and improving the gift shop with unique hand-crafted items and setting up an educational program and lecture series.
There will also be a continuation of lively fund-raising events or ‘fun-raisers? as she calls them.
The Starkweather will benefit from Sylvia’s broad background. She has a B.F.A. and an M.A. from Wayne State University. She has worked on several projects with the Detroit Institute of Arts and New Detroit. She co-founded the Detroit Workshop of Fine Prints and instituted the first Michigan Artists Registry. Her arts administration background extends from working with the Archives of American Art writing grants to Exhibition Director of Paint Creek Center for the Arts.
The Michigan Arts Council granted her seed money to begin the Michigan Art Journal. As Editor and Publisher of this regional fine-arts magazine her goal was to create a forum for artists, educate the public and as an information source for patrons. Past issues of the magazine and original documents and galley artwork are housed at the Archives of American Art in the Smithsonian.
As an artist herself, Sylvia has exhibited her work internationally. She received grants from the Michigan Arts Council, The Welsh Arts Council and the Welsh-American Foundation to spend a month in Wales.
During the following year she created a body of work that was exhibited throughout Wales, England, Ireland and the U.S., finishing up with an exhibit and lecture at Harvard’s Institute of Celtic Studies in Cambridge, Mass.
The Center for Creative Studies gave her a stipend to paint in Italy for a summer where she traveled with architect/instructor, Marco Nobili and his wife, Louise, a noted watercolorist and past professor at Wayne State University.
More recently the Gozo Institute of Contemporary Art invited Sylvia to be an artist-in-residence for two weeks. While on this tiny sister-island to Malta, she created a series of watercolors inspired by the culture of Malta/Gozo along with sculpture made from native sandstone which became part of an installation piece.
Majewska’s interest in art and many cultures is evident in her love of travel. She has been everywhere from Peru to Poland.
The public will be able to share her passion in upcoming exhibits of art and calligraphy (Celtic/Oriental/Arabic), visiting artists, lecturers from the DIA, improved exhibits and educational programs.
The Starkweather Art and Cultural Center is located at 210 N. Main St. in Romeo.