Elaine Smollin

From Arts Worcester

Elaine’s family immigrated to Worcester from Lithuania in 1914 and forecast her artistic life. Her paintings reflect her involvement in Cinema Studies at New York University’s legendary Film and Politics program. Each painting is one of a multitude of fleeting images in her ongoing dialectic with history since 1997.

Her paintings stand at seven feet tall in dialogue with histories of people whose existence is often eclipsed by the political transformations of their era. They are intended to be seen and documented free standing in historic buildings where overlays of sentiment can be experienced regarding human existence in past worlds. Elaine worked in archaeology in Lithuania in the 1990s.

She received a NEA grant in Drawing, an NEH/IREX grant in Film Theory and Archaeological Theory, a drawing exhibition honorarium from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, MacDowell artist residencies, and a Rhode Island Council for the Humanities grant to develop new trends in art and design education on public lands.

Elaine designed the New City Dreams project for Preservation Worcester that introduces youth in Worcester’s Main South district to historic preservation experts who revitalize and protect Worcester’s rich historic environments. At the Worcester Art Museum, she teaches painting, photojournalism and architecture for youth.