Winter Rusiloski

Winter Rusiloski was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and grew up in a rural setting outside of the city. Landscape was always important to her growing up on acres of land where she frequently explored her family’s property. She and her family visited the east coast shores where changes in atmosphere and nature, particularly sky and water, were fascinating.

Winter was introduced to drawing and painting at an early age; her father was an engineer and her first drawing teacher. Her interest in the fine arts extended to performance studying dance. Winter earned a BFA in Painting and Related Arts-Dance at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. During her final year, she studied abroad in Cortona, Italy with the University of Georgia.

Winter earned an MFA in Painting at Texas Christian University and once again studied abroad at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. Winter has taught at Texas Christian University, El Centro College in Dallas, and most recently was a Tenured Associate Professor of Art at Tarrant County College Northwest Campus.

Winter Rusiloski has exhibited nationally, internationally and is in numerous public and private collections throughout the United States. Her exhibition highlights include: The Texas Biennial 2009 with juror Michael Duncan, three time Hunting Art Prize Finalist in Houston, Art in the Metroplex-Award Recipient with juror Sarah Jayne Parsons, Texas Paint Part 2-Out of Abstraction, a survey of Abstract Painting in Texas at the Arlington Museum of Art, The Texas Oklahoma Art Prize at the Wichita Falls Museum of Art, The Third Annual Regional Juried Art Exhibition at Artspace 111 with Eric M. Lee Distinguished Director of the Kimbell Art Museum. Winter’s work was also included in international exhibitions and publications including:  Studio Visit Magazine, Dallas Art Fair, and Art Santa Fe. Two of her recent solo exhibitions include Tempest at Weyland Gallery in Epworth, Iowa and Magnificent Tempest at Artspace 111 in Fort Worth.

Artist Statement

Landscape is important to me since I grew up in a rural setting in Pennsylvania. I am interested in nature, the horizon line and the tension between sky and water. These influences spearhead my interest in the fusion of landscape painting with abstraction. The Texas landscape inspires me with the flatness of the land and big sky.  I work spontaneously, with specific memories and references in mind.  I enjoy the physicality of the paint and am interested in the ambiguous spaces I create through abstraction.

Photographs are often collaged into the work to introduce a varied vocabulary and space.  The photographs act as another layer of mark making and are suggestive of an ambiguous narrative.  This pairing releases representational areas within the work from their descriptive function, creating a dynamic spatial relationship with the whole.

Professional Work