Painter/ CURATOR/ educator
Artist's Statement + BIO
I am a multidisciplinary artist, working mostly in oils on canvas and board. My work has recently expanded to include collage, mask making, sewing and embroidery. As a young child, I was influenced by the second wave feminism of the 1970s and my mother’s involvement in it, as well as the growing ecology movement and our relationship to the planet.
In the last several years, my work has been influenced by cultural trends in the United States including the rise of Trumpism, the growth of censorship, rising violence, racism, and misogyny.
My Scream series (2016-2019) chronicles the frustration and uncertainty of social injustice during the Trump years. Other series, such as Disaster are a record of climate change and the global pandemic. My work also lovingly critiques gender stereotypes and nostalgia from the 1950s and 1960s in my Housewives and Breadwinners and my Food of Yesteryear series.
Born in the late 1960's, Ms. Pollak-Lewis grew up in the suburbs of New York, where she was raised in a traditional nuclear family. Her parents furnished their home with classic mid-century modern furniture, abstract art and books.
After graduation from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Film, Ms. Pollak-Lewis travelled west to San Francisco where she began a commercial art career as a staff artist and freelance Illustrator. Her specialty was capturing expression and emotion.
Throughout her career she maintained a painting studio where she worked in oils. Heavily influenced by her childhood, she boasts an extensive collection of dolls and toys from the late 1950s through the 1970s.
In 2022, Ms. Pollak-Lewis completed her MA in Arts Education from Boston University. She currently works as an arts educator and a curator.