A life-size maze of mirrors and dreams reveals an exceptional collection of works by Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna: a fugue-like series of 25 drawings and etchings inspired by the Borgian notion of the labyrinth, with Icarus as protagonist. Twenty-three 7ft tall mirrored panels form this massive installation that complicates and multiplies the space of the gallery, and infiltrates the observer.

The Florence, Italy-based artist, Nick Kraczyna is a guest professor this year at the College of Visual & Performing Arts of Syracuse University, on loan from SU’s program abroad in Florence.

Kraczyna’s works will be displayed throughout the grand structure of an actual labyrinth that was conceptualized in close partnership with associate curators in this project, Pedro Cuperman and Daniela Mosko-Wozniak, to create a new context for his Labyrinths. The task of design and construction was also shared with scenography and lighting designer Alexander Koziara who is also Associate Professor of the S.U. Drama Department, and journeymen Edward Reynolds and Jeffrey Bidwell from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Local 9. This project has served as a valuable hands-on experience for SU Drama students of stage design who have been directly involved in the construction and lighting of this highly complex “set”.

Led by Point of Contact with the generous sponsorship of the Connective Corridor, this collaborative venture is a model of Cancellor Nancy Cantor's “Scholarship in Action” program. the project effectively gathers energy, resources and talent from a variety of sources including faculty and students from the College of Visual & Performing Arts, the S.U Drama Department, the Connective Corridor project, Th3, the Warehouse Gallery, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, (I.A.T.S.E. Local 9), and various enthusiastic members of the local arts community on and off campus, who have teamed up wholeheartedly to make it a success.

Housed and sponsored by Syracuse University, Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact, Inc. is a non-profit, 501c3 tax-exempt organization dedicated to the exploration and exchange of ideas in the verbal and visual arts. The corporation is dedicated to publishing as well as producing and documenting special events that are generated in collaboration with the artistic and intellectual community locally, nationally and internationally.

The Connective Corridor is a 1.5 mile strip of cutting-edge cultural development connecting University Hill with downtown Syracuse. The Corridor makes investments in key locations supporting historic landmarks, cultural institutions and private development in the city. These areas include the emerging arts districts along East Genesee St. and the Near Westside; Fayette-Firefighters Park and Columbus Circle; the nightlife of Armory Square; and the Civic Strip, where the Oncenter complex and the Everson Museum tie into the center of downtown.

A CONVERSATION WITH SWIETLAN NICHOLAS KRACZYNA
Pedro Cuperman, Curator

ARTIST'S BIO:
Born on the Polish-Russian border, at the outbreak of World War II, the family moved westward and at the end of the war, in 1945, ended up in the refugee camps of Germany. After six years, in 1951, the family migrated to the United States.

He received his BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and in 1961 he spent a year studying in Rome and Florence, after which he returned to the United States for an MFA and received a teaching fellowship at the University of Southern Illinois.

He now lives and works in Florence, in the 13th century home of Michelangelo’s teacher, Domenico Ghirlandaio.

When his artistic searches ventured completely into the field of graphic, he set up the etching department at Villa Schifanoia (Rosary College Graduate School of Fine Arts) in Florence, where he taught for 18 years.

In 1970 Kraczyna was one of ten artists to represent the United States in the Palazzo Strozzi Biennale di Grafica, and his multi-plate color etchings are now in the Uffizi Gallery Prints and Drawings Collection.

Kraczyna has been invited to various universities and art schools in the United States, England, Italy, Mexico, and Colombia, to demonstrate his own multi-plate color etching technique. He is one of the founders of the il Bisonte International School of Advanced Printmaking in Florence where he currently teaches, and is also the co-author of Segni mcisi, the first Italian comprehensive textbook on the history and techniques of etching. He also teaches for the Syracuse University Program in Florence.

Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna has exhibited in all five continents and Labyriths is his 142nd solo show.

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