Born into a creative family in New York in the 1950’s Elizabeth Koszarski-Skrabonja came of age during a tumultuous period of artistic questioning. Her undergraduate studies at The University of Massachusetts at Amherst where she received her BFA in printmaking were informed by the conceptual and abstract expressionist influences of her instructors. Color, form and intent were of primary importance. Drawn by an unbounded curiosity of her Polish heritage, the artist continued her studies in Krakow, Poland receiving her Magister Sztuk Pieknych MFA degree in Intaglio Printmaking and Book Design in 1982. She lived in Poland, learned the language and absorbed both the classical and expressionist influences prevalent during those cold war years. During this time the artist closely aligned her output to the natural world. Inspired by American transcendentalism and European symbolism – the landscape and its components; trees, roads, flowers – became her conduit of expression. It presented as a classical vehicle for voicing the considerations of life. Symbolic or actual, the picture plane is reactive to the viewer’s own perspective.

The artist’s career has included teaching, curating, art advocacy and mentoring. She has exhibited internationally including during a residency at the Frans Masereel Art Center in Kasterlee Belgium, The Small Forms Graphic Exhibition in Lodz, Poland and Tokyo, Japan; she is an ongoing exhibiting artist at the Hudson Guild NYC and currently at its Guild Gallery II. She has taught art at several colleges including Steven’s Institute of Technology and William Paterson University and been a mentor/advisor at Parson’s School of Design. Her work as a Curator and Designer of exhibitions and interpreter of collections at the Kosciuszko Foundation NYC and The Orangetown Historical Museum & Archives, Orangeburg, NY as well as design consultant at the Barrymore Film Center, Ft. Lee, NJ is ongoing. She strives to interpret, preserve and create art as a part of our collective life journey.