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Tina Poplawski

Tina Poplawski

Sleep, pretty darling do not cry (Mother & Child), 2013

Acrylic, botanical matter, jute, foam, Swarovski Crystals mounted on wood panel.

Diptych: each 39” x 75” x 6”

Tina Poplawski

“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.” (Blue Herons), 2020-23

Acrylic, jute, interfacing, Winterstone, botanical matter, glitter mounted on wood panel

40” x 40”

Tina Poplawski

“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.” (Canada Geese), 2020

Acrylic, jute, Winterstone, botanical matter, glitter mounted on wood panel

60” x 60”

Tina Poplawski

“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.” (Spring Peepers), 2018-19

Acrylic, jute, Winterstone, botanical matter, glitter mounted on wood panel

40” x 40”

Tina Poplawski

“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.” (Bees), 2018-19

Acrylic, jute, Winterstone, botanical matter, glitter mounted on wood panel

40” x 40”

Tina Poplawski

“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.” (Owls), 2018-19

Acrylic, jute, Winterstone, botanical matter, glitter mounted on wood panel

40” x 40”

Tina Poplawski

“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.” (Squirrels), 2018-19

Acrylic, jute, Winterstone, botanical matter, glitter mounted on wood panel

40” x 40”

Tina Poplawski

“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.” (Fishers), 2018-19

Acrylic, jute, Winterstone, botanical matter, glitter mounted on wood panel

40” x 40”

Tina Poplawski

“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.” (Chickadees), 2018-19

Acrylic, jute, Winterstone, botanical matter, glitter mounted on wood panel

40” x 40”

Tina Poplawski

“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.” (Turtles), 2021-23

Acrylic, jute, interfacing, Winterstone, botanical matter, glitter mounted on wood panel

40” x 40”

Tina Poplawski

“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.” (Monarch Butterflies), 2020-23

Acrylic, jute, interfacing, Winterstone, botanical matter, glitter mounted on wood panel

40” x 40”

About

Canadian artist Tina Poplawski communes with nature – a sanctuary that is both sacred and revelatory. During her habitual excursions during hikes and canoe trips around the marshes and beaches of Tiny Township, where she lives, Poplawski has mastered the art of transforming decomposing and dried botanical matter into new artworks that are as life-giving as their living counterparts. Her work delves into the allure of observing the natural process of decay and metamorphosis. However, beneath these artistic interpretations lie deep emotional reverberations, stemming from the haunting impact of war and the forced displacement of her ancestors from their homes due to violent military assaults.

Tina's family history bears the scars of the past, as her parents and grandparents endured a harrowing ordeal during the Second World War, finding themselves imprisoned in the unforgiving gulags of Siberia. Stripped of all that was dear to them, they emerged from their traumatic confinement only to face further adversity. Relocated to refugee camps in five different countries, they were unjustly labelled as "DP's" or displaced persons, a disparaging term that added to their suffering.

For many years, Poplawski had been exploring the profound impact of war and displacement on human populations, and has brought this sensibility to human impact on the environment and on the fauna and flora in her region.

Amidst the relentless encroachment of human activities on her immediate ecosystem , Poplawski assumes the role of a witness. With deep empathy, she carves out a sanctuary that pays homage to the plants and animals inhabiting her surroundings, granting them a voice. Through her intricate works using botanical world debris, she captures the beauty and fragility of life, interwoven with the realities of loss and renewal. The juxtaposition of decay and transformation in her work has served as a metaphor for the resilience of all beings in the face of adversity.

Poplawski says, “I have been negotiating the cultural residue of war through my art practice for many years now. This has led me to a fascination with ‘debris’ found in the botanical world.” She sees the natural world as a place of reassuring comfort as it continues its continual cycles of cleansing and renewal. Whether observing the trace actions of tiny insects on half-eaten leaves, or the decimated carcasses of uprooted trees lying like broken beings, these elements found in nature evoke powerful symbolic associations for the artist.

Born in Chelmsford, UK, Canadian artist Tina Poplawski studied at the New School of Art in Toronto and later received her BFA (Honours) at York University. She has been a facultymember of the Toronto School of Art since 1998 and has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Ontario, Quebec and New York, including the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Quest Art Gallery, Museum of Northern History, Temiskaming Art Gallery, Deleon White Gallery, V. MacDonnell Gallery, Lehmann Leskiw Fine Art, Material Matters, and Headbones Gallery, Neo-Faber Gallery, and Ward-Nasse Gallery in New York. Her work is found in numerous collections in Canada, the United States and Europe, and is the recipient of many awards, including numerous Ontario Art Council Grants.

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