Dragana Crnjak

Roy Alumn 2011

‍I remember enjoying the entire process of my exhibit at ROY, I had the freedom, space and time to explore that opportunity.  I don’t remember the director’s name, but he was so supportive and encouraging.  There are not many spaces that will allow you to explore within the gallery space and develop site-sensitive work, especially as a young and emerging artist.  The support was amazing and exciting.

I remember that I was paired with Jerry Birchfield, and we exhibited together again at a show in Akron Art Museum a few years later.  I really admired his work.  He’s a wonderful artist, and I’ve enjoyed connecting with him.

There are a lot of spaces for the more mature artist, but not a lot of opportunities for younger artists or those still developing a new body of work.  I remember I was so pumped up with ideas after graduating, and then with my selection by ROY was able to explore that transitional period of my career.  Emerging artists need to test limits and try something new, and ROY allows that and even encourages that innovation.  ROY supported my exploration and I was afforded the trust to develop my work on-site.  That’s hard to find for any artist, let alone an emerging artist.

I think the element of competition and the call for entries is really important, even essential.  The juried selection process makes ROY stand out from other community art spaces, it adds credibility and greater reputation for the artists that are selected so early in their career.  It allows the artist to push their work beyond the traditional and predictable work that many commercial galleries often seek.

https://www.draganacrnjak.com/

Bio:    Dragana Crnjak, a Serbian-American artist and Professor of Art at Youngstown State University, explores the fundamental inquiries of painting and drawing through meticulous attention to surface, mark-making, color, and spatial dynamics. Her artwork, influenced by peripheral visions, fleeting memories, and dichotomies of control and intuition, embodies an interplay of repetition, disruption, and unpredictability to evoke deeper experiences of time and presence. Crnjak’s work has been widely exhibited and collected both in the U.S. and internationally, earning her prestigious awards, including four Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards and a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship.