Izabela Ewa Ołdak
BIOGRAPHIE
(version française à suivre bientôt)
I was born in Silesia, Poland, with a deep sense of wonder for the unseen world — the world of symbols, dreams, and quiet messages carried by Nature. As a child I drew, painted, and created my own myths, trying to understand the invisible threads connecting people, places, and stories. Art was my first language, long before I found the words for it.
My path has taken me through many landscapes — both outer and inner. I studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań (Poland) and later completed my MFA at the Dutch Art Institute ArtEZ in the Netherlands. A turning point came during my journey to Siberia, where I understood that creation is not only an artistic act but a way of remembering who I truly am. This experience led me toward shamanism, mysticism, and the deeper layers of consciousness that continue to shape my life and work.
Over the years, I have lived and created across countries and cultures, taking part in international artist-in-residence programs. I curated the long-term project “Beyond Time / Poza czasem” at Galeria Bielska BWA in Poland, gathering artists from around the world, and later initiated the first international art residency in the history of the Philippines, “Balay Kalamragan”. My work has been exhibited in numerous galleries, symposia, and festivals across Europe and Asia, and I have led many workshops supporting creative expression and arteraphy.
For the past four years I have been living and creating in my studio Portal Mocy in the foothills of the Polish mountains. It is a place where I paint, create intentional tattoos, guide workshops, hold circles, and offer concerts with drums, gongs, and Tibetan bowls. I also hold individual shamanic sessions, accompanying others in their own inner transformations.
My work weaves personal vision with universal symbolism, inviting a deeper connection to oneself, to Earth, the Source and to the unseen world that lives within all things.
Démarche artistique
My artistic approach grows directly from my spiritual path, which is rooted in shamanism and a deep connection with Nature and its spirits. The Earth is my teacher. Her rhythms, her cycles, and her deep wisdom guide me through the Wheel of Life — birth, growth, flowering, decay, death, and rebirth — which forms the foundation of my creative process.
When I paint, I follow visions, dreams, shamanic journeys, and intuitive messages that arise in altered states of consciousness. My work carries mandalas, patterns, archetypes, and symbols that rise from the invisible. I am inspired by ancient cultures, cave art, mythology, native crafts, sacred geometry, fractals, and the universal code — the matrix, the Web of Life that connects everything. These images often appear spontaneously, whispering stories, longings, and questions.
I create in a state close to trance or meditation. I love the moment when the ego dissolves, when identity becomes transparent, when the world fades and only the act of creation remains. I love entering trance through the sound of the drum, and experiencing a similar state while painting — being beyond myself, focused, open, and guided. In this space I feel held by something larger than myself: an inner current, a Source showing the next gesture, the next color, the next form. Sometimes while I paint, I tell myself stories; they appear in my mind by themselves, whispering wishes, longings, and wonderings.
My inspiration comes from the invisible realms — from intuition, ancestral memory, the wisdom of the body, and the pulse of Nature. I create to honor the mystery that moves through all things. My work is an offering, a way of listening, a way of remembering — and an invitation for others to search for their own answers to the great existential questions: Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?
I hope that through my paintings others may glimpse this connection, feel the resonance of their own inner worlds, and touch the loving light that lives within them.
Expositions, performances et projets
2025
• Intertwined Worlds – 80 Years of the Association of Polish Visual Artists, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała
• 19th Environmental Exhibition, Zamek Gallery, Sucha Beskidzka
2024
• Shamanic Journey, performance with Magdalena Rozbicka, Intercollegiate Performance Review aKTOmaR, Teatr KTO, Kraków
2022
• Freelandia — New Earth, Aquarium, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała
• 22nd Festival of High Art, Stalowe Anioły Gallery, Bytom / Kubiszówka, Bielsko-Biała
• 5th Bielsko Visual Arts Festival, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała
2020
• Art Colony, Alksniupiai Cultural Center, Lithuania
• 21st Festival of High Art, Bytom Cultural Center, Bytom
2019
• Artist-in-Residence Program, Löblhof & Artgrund, Staňkovice, Czech Republic
• Roots, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała
• Retrospection — A Decade of Painting, Galeria pod Atlantami, Wałbrzych
2018
• Children of Light, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała
• Another Dimension, Gallery Wejście przez Sklep z Platerami, Warsaw
• Women’s Power, Aquarium, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała
• 4th Festival of Visual Arts, Historical Museum — Stara Fabryka, Bielsko-Biała
2017
• EFÍMERA, CACiS – El Forn de la Calç, Spain
• This Is the Way to Heal, performance, Contexts Festival of Ephemeral Art, Sokołowsko
2016
• Pokaz 4 — Collection of Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała
• Art Colony, Kavadarci, North Macedonia
• Redemption, performance, Calders, Spain
• Artist-in-Residence Program, CACiS – Forn de la Calç, Calders, Spainś
INFORMATIONS COPYRIGHT
Symbole Ré-Visionnaire: Je laisse mes œuvres libres de droit afin qu’elles puissent être partagées entre personnes qui souhaiteraient les reproduire dans l’esprit du Collectif, dans la mesure où ils m’indiquent bien comme auteur.
Symbole Copyright: Je suis détenteur du copyright de mes propres œuvres : mon travail ne peut pas être reproduit, hormis par le Collectif d’Art Ré-Visionnaire, dans les conditions telles qu’indiquées ci-dessus au point 1. Sauf accord écrit de ma part.