Calgary artist Teresa Posyniak brings to her art a versatile professional training that includes degrees in literature and drama, a BFA in painting and printmaking (University of Regina, 1981), and an MFA in sculpture (University of Calgary, 1983). Over the course of her 40-year career, she has worked in materials as diverse as steel, wood, concrete, handmade paper and felt, oil and encaustic. Her works range in size from room-sized installations to intimate drawings and paintings and explore themes of vulnerability and resiliency in contemporary society, whether the subject is human or nature. Posyniak has always been a socially engaged artist and her activism, primarily on behalf of women, children and the environment, drives her practice.
She has taught art at the Alberta College of Art and Design and the University of Calgary, and her work has been exhibited widely in private and public galleries, including a 2010 solo show at the Glenbow Museum, I Speak My Daughter Tongue. Posyniak has been the recipient of many awards and grants from the Alberta and Saskatchewan governments as well as The Canada Council, and her work is represented in many private and public collections including the Glenbow Museum, The City of Calgary Civic Art Collection and The Alberta Foundation for the Arts.