Stephen Poleskie

If you would like more information about Steve's work and career, please contact Jeanne Mackin, www.jeannemackin.com, through the contact button on her website.

STEPHEN (STEVE) POLESKIE IS AN ARTIST AND WRITER. His artwork is in the collections of numerous museums including the Metropolitan Museum, the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Morgan Library in New York; The National Collection, Washington, D. C., The Walker Art Gallery in Minneapolis, Milwaukee Art Museum, Detroit Institute of Art, The Neuberger Museum, Muscarelle Museum of Art, the HF Johnson Museum, The Brooks Memorial Art Gallery in Memphis, The Museum of Modern Art, Mexico, D.F., The State Museum in Lodz, Poland, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Tate Gallery in London, John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton, UK, and the Caproni Museum, Trento, Alternative Museum, Lido de Spigna, and Castel Vecchio, Verona, all in Italy.

Over a career spanning more than fifty years Poleskie’s artwork has been exhibited widely. Among the cities he has had his work shown, or done performances, are: New York, Boston, Cambridge, Providence, Chicago, Washington D. C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Palo Alto, Sonoma, Houston, Hartford, Springfield, Pittsfield, Seattle, Portland, Philadelphia, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Reading, Pittsburgh, Kutztown, Berwick, Chambersburg, Toledo, Richmond, Williamsburg, Utica, Memphis, Albany, Binghamton, Brockport, Buffalo, Cortland, Hammonsport, Hamilton, Ithaca, Oswego, Rochester, Syracuse, Spokane, San Antonio, Houston, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Honolulu in the USA; Montreal, Toronto, and Victoria, in Canada; London, Cheltenham, Southampton, Loughborough, and the Isle of Wight in England; Glasgow in Scotland; Rome, Milan, Bologna, Brescia, Como, Trento, Turino, Verona, Lido di Spigna, Pallanza, and Palermo in Italy; Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, and Kassel, in Germany; Linz in Austria; Ljubljana, Zagreb, Maribor, Rijeka, and Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia; Moscow and Saint Petersburg in Russia; Warsaw, Gdansk, and Lodz, in Poland; Mexico City, in Mexico; Tbilisi in the Republic of Georgia; Vilnius in Lithuania; Freetown in Sierra Leone; Stockholm in Sweden; Rio de Janeiro in Brazil; Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in Honduras; Barcelona, Madrid, and Cadaque in Spain; Locarno, and Cannobio in Switzerland; Toulouse in France; Varna in Bulgaria; Budapest in Hungary; Seoul in South Korea; Hong Kong in China; and Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan.

His writing, fiction, nonfiction, art criticism and poetry, has appeared in many literary journals both here and abroad. Among these are American Writing, Art Criticism, Bombay Gin, BookPress, Crack the Spine, Dove Tales, Editions Bibliotekos, El Portal, Essays & Fictions, Euphony, Fiction International, Former People, Ginosko, Grey Sparrow, Jonah, Leonardo, Lightworks, Many Mountains Moving, Marathon, Midway, Oddball, Onager Editions, Pangolin Papers, Peacock Journal, Poem in your Pocket, Porter Gulch Review, Ragazine, Satire, Shiny, Skylark, SN Review, Still Points Quarterly, Straight, Streetlight, Sulphur River Literary Review, Tangent, Q, Wayfarer, Wilderness House Literary Review, and Wordwrights in the USA; D'Ars, and Spazio Humano in Italy; Himmelschrieber and SAND Journal in Germany; In Other Words: Merida, OFI Press, and SOL Literary Review, in Mexico; Imago in Australia; The Prague Review, in the Czech Republic, The Luxembourg Review in Luxembourg, and The Criterion and Odd Magazine, in India. He has a short story in five anthologies; Dove Tales, Being Human: Call of the Wild, From the Finger Lakes (both fiction and poetry) and The Book of Love, W. W. Norton, and has been three times nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A handmade book of his poetry, Sky, was printed at Loughborough College of Art and Design in England. A copy of this book is in the Rare Book Collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

His debut novel, The Balloonist, The Story of T. S. C. Lowe, Inventor, Scientist, Magician, and Father of the U. S. Air Force, was published by Frederic C. Beil, in 2007. He has since published six other books: The Third Candidate, 2008 a novel, Grater Life, 2009 a novel in stories, Vigilia's Tempest, 2010 a novel, Acorn's Card, 2011 a novella and stories, and the novels Sconto Walaa, 2012 and Foozler Runs 2013.

In addition to the thirty-three years he spent teaching at Cornell University, Poleskie has taught, or been a visiting artist or professor at 26 other colleges and art schools throughout the world, including: MIT, the School of Visual Arts and the Pratt Manhattan Graphics Center in New York City, Rhode Island School of Design, the University of California/Berkeley, William and Mary College, Alfred University, Hobart College, Colgate University, Berkshire College, Hamilton College, Dartmouth College, Albright College, Virginia Commonwealth University, Saint Mary's College, Hofstra University, Clemson University, South Dakota State University, Keystone College, Marywood University, Wilkes University, Penn State University, California State University/Sonoma, SUNY Brockport, SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Oswego, SUNY Cortland, Kutztown University, and the Institute of Fine Arts, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He has also been a resident at the American Academy in Rome. Poleskie did a one month Guest Artist tour of the former Soviet Union, and another of the former Yugoslavia, and one in Honduras for the United States Information Agency.

A skilled pilot, Poleskie attained an Air Transport Pilot's rating, and also was active in air show and stunt flying, even appearing at the Pittsburgh Air Show on the same program as the US Navy Blue Angels. As a competition aerobatic pilot Poleskie won many titles, including the 1977 Canadian Open Aerobatic Championship.

Stephen Poleskie is a professor emeritus at Cornell University. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his wife, the novelist, Jeanne Mackin.

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SOMETIMES OUR BEST ENDEAVORS, most carefully planned and executed, do not work out. What went wrong? Sometimes something casually conceived and virtually "knocked off" is completely successful. Right is often wrong, and wrong right. Why do we love what we are doing, and hate it at the same time? Why do we put our works in public, and suffer both pride and embarrassment? Why do we try to say something about what we are doing, and then realize that we cannot?

Stephen Poleskie

Hildibrand, June (1967) ARTISTS PROOF, the Annual of Prints and Printmaking, Pratt Graphics Center, NY, and Barre Publishers, MA Silkscreen Printing by Steve Poleskie, p 78-82, 1 black and white reproduction A Note on Chiron Press, p 83-4

various authors (1968) ARTISTS PROOF, the Annual of Prints and Printmaking, Pratt Graphics Center, NY, and Barre Publishers, MA, Poleskie, Steve, tipped in screen print (4 colors) p 7

Biegeleisen, J. I. (1971) SCREEN PRINTING, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, ISBN 0-237-44810-6, Poleskie, Steve, p 34, one black and white reproduction

Eichenberg, Fritz (1976) THE ART OF THE PRINT, Harry N. Abrams, Publishers, New York, ISBN 0-8109-0103-X, Poleskie, Steve, p 489, 510-11, 578, one page reproduction (color) 542

Eichenberg, Fritz (1978) LITHOGRAPHY AND SILKSCREEN, Harry N. Abrams, Publishers, New York, ISBN 0-8109-2095-6, Poleskie, Steve, p 123, 152-153, one page reproduction (color) 133

IMAGES OF AN ERA: the American Poster 1945-1975, National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., 1976, Poleskie, Steve, full page reproduction, (color) p 98, from MOMA Collection

Carroll, James F. L. (1981) IN AND OUT OF KUTZTOWN, a documentation of the Art Series program, 1974-1981, Kutztown University, Kutztown. PA., Poleskie, Steve, three black and white reproductions, p 185, 6, 7.

AMERICAN ART DIRECTORY, 50th Edition, edited by Jaques Cattell Press, R. R. Browker, New York & London, 1984, Poleskie, Steve, p 664

Ackerman, Diane (1985) ON EXTENDED WINGS, Athenum, New York, ISBN 0-689-11540-7

Zeitlin, Marilyn, (1985) STEVE POLESKIE, Drawings and Collages, Marilyn Zietlin, introduction, Peter Frank, essay, Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, catalog, 11 black and white reproductions

Kimpel, Harald (1986) HIMMELSSCHREIBER, Dimensionen Eines Fluchtigen Mediums, Jonas Verlag, Marburg, Germany, ISBN 3-922561-50-0, Poleskie, Steve, p 83, 105-114, 10 black and white reproductions

Crispolti, Enrico (1987) STEVE POLESKIE, Galleria Schneider, Roma, catalog, 1 color, 1 black and white reproduction

Krantz, Les (1987) THE NEW YORK ART REVIEW, Les Krantz, American References, Chicago, ISBN 0-913756-09-0, Poleskie, Steve, p 1016, reproduction, (black & white) p 1046

Foster, Stephen and Lurie, Alison (1989) STEVE POLESKIE, ARTFLYER, John Hansard Gallery, The University of Southampton, UK, 1989, catalog, 8 color reproductions

Meyer, Jon (1989) STEVE POLESKIE, ARTFLYER, Clemson University, catalog, 3 color, and 5 black and white reproductions

Dantzic, Cynthis Maris (1990) DESIGN DIMENSIONS, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, ISBN 0-13-199985-0, Poleskie, Steve, p 296 reproduction (black & white)

WHO'S WHO IN AMERICAN ART, 1991 -1992, 19th Edition, R.R. Bowker, New Providence, NJ, Poleskie, Stephen Francis, p 884, also 1993, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2000, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

Rebeschini, Claudio (1994) CRALI AEROPITTORE, Electra, Milano, 1994, Poleskie, Steve, p 255, photograph of Poleskie, (black & white)

Corlett, Mary Lee (1994) THE PRINTS OF ROY LICHTENSTEIN, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Hudson Hills Press, New York, ISBN 1-55595-105-8, Poleskie, Stephen, p 25, 80, 81, 82, 257,

Ackerman, Diane and Mackin, Jeanne (1998) THE BOOK OF LOVE, W. W. Norton, New York, ISBN 0-393-04589-7, Poleskie, Stephen F., Love and Janus Zyvka, short story, p 243-246

Mishlove, Jeffery (2000) THE PK MAN, A True Story of Mind Over Matter, Hampton Roads Publishers, Charlottesville, VA, ISBN 978-1571741837, Poleskie, Stephen, p 33-34

OVERVIEW, (2001) University of Buffalo Art Gallery, Buffalo, Steve Poleskie, p 49, one color reproduction

Pisano, Dominick A. editor (2003) THE AIRPLANE IN AMERICAN CULTURE, The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, ISBN 0-472-09833-0, Poleskie, Steve, p 283

various authors (2006) DIE SICHTBARKEEIT DER SCHRIFT, Fink Wilhelm Gmbh + Co.KG, ISBN 978-3770542505, Poleskie, Steve, Artflyer, p 53

Bojko, Szymon (2007) Z POLSKIM RODOWODEM, 1900 - 1980, Oficyna Wydawnicza Kucharski, Warsaw, Poland, ISBN 9-788389-376404, Poleskie, Steve (Stephen) p 20, 53, 91, 254-259, 360, reproductions: 4 color, 3 black and white

Goodwin Susan W. and Whitley, Peggy J. (2007) 99 JUMPSTARTS FOR KIDS, Libraries Unlimited, ISBN 978-1591584032

WHO'S WHO IN THE WORLD, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 08, 07, 06, 05, 04, 03, etc., to 1983, Marquis, New Providence, NJ, ISBN 978-0-8379-1143-4

various authors (2011) HOHENRAUSCH.2, Brucken in Himmel / Bridges in the Sky, OK Offenes Kulturhus, Linz, Austria, Poleskie Steve, p 100-101, one black and white reproduction.

Tauge, Gregory F., editor (2012) BEING HUMAN, Call of the Wild, Editions Bibliotekos, Inc., New York, ISBN 978-0-9824819-5-0, Poleskie, Stephen, The Raccoon, a short story, p 1-5

Ellis, Rhian, editor, (2015) FROM THE FINGER LAKES, A Prose Anthology, Cayuga Lake Books, Ithaca, New York, ISBN 978-1-68111-060-8, Poleskie, Stephen, The Hosta, a short story, p 291-297

Fortunato, Peter, Hopper, Jack, editors, (2016) FROM THE FINGER LAKES, A Poetry Anthology, Cayuga Lake Books, Ithaca, New York, ISBN 978-1-68111-143-8, Poleskie, Stephen, two poems, p 165-166

DOVE TALES, Family and Cultural Identity, (2016) Writing for Peace, Colgate University Research Council, ISBN: 978-0-9891206-4-7, Poleskie, Stephen, Having Buried Land Mines, a short story, p 206-219

Curtis, Cathy (2017) A GENEROUS VISION; the creative life of Elaine deKooning, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-049847, Poleskie, Steve, Chiron Press, p 95

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