(Posted April 4, 2011)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Anna Theiss, a writer and art critic from Warsaw, Poland, will speak at Juniata College on how current Polish artists are using Poland's postwar communist legacy as inspiration for cutting-edge work at 5 p.m., Tuesday, April 5, in Neff Lecture Hall in the von Liebig Center for Science.

The lecture, titled "Unveiling the Heaviness: Contemporary Polish Art Confronting the Iron Curtain," is free and open to the public. The lecture is sponsored by Juniata's Department of Art and Art History.

The talk will focus on how current trends in Polish art, architecture and design reflect how the nation's past political heritage of communism has been a negative point of reference for the nation, yet a source of aesthetic inspiration for new artists. She will focus specifically on how the tension between Poland's communist past, using some of the country's communist-era heritage as inspiration, and today's use of that imagery to create beautiful images that are shaping Poland's artistic legacy.

Theiss is assistant curator at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw and also works as editor of the Gallery section of Kultura, a weekly magazine insert for Poland's second-largest daily newspaper.

She also is the main editor of the "Collection Catalogue," a catalog for the main corporate art collection in Poland.

Theiss earned a master's degree in applied social studies, with a specialization in anthropology and a master's degree in art history, both from Warsaw University.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.