Elzbieta Wiktoria Kaleta
Elzbieta was born and raised in Krakow, Poland. Although she received a Ph.D. in biology, she was always an artist at heart. In 1981, she came to the United States for postdoctoral research at Harvard University but later settled in Albuquerque with her Polish-born husband the their two American-born children. In this multi-cultural atmosphere of New Mexico Elzbieta creates paper cutouts (called "wycinanki" in Polish - a popular folk art in Poland exhibited in the Santa Fe Museum of International Folk Art). Using techniques mastered for Polish traditional designs, she developed her own vision of the Southwest spirit and captured it in this unique medium. Her favorite designs are dramatic compositions full of animal and human figures based on prehistoric Indian pottery ornamentation from the Mimbres Valley in New Mexico. Each detail is separately cut out with scissors and applied in several layers on top of each other - an exclusively Polish contribution to the art of paper cutting.
She has participated in numerous juried art shows, exhibits and invitational demonstrations where she has been winning awards and gaining both national and international recognition.