Work by Jacek Fraczak, assistant professor in art and design, is included in Prints U.S.A, a national biennial competitive exhibition opening at the Springfield Art Museum in November 2011. Prints U.S.A., which was created to recognize skilled artists in printmaking, is in its seventh year. Elizabeth Wyckoff, curator of prints, drawings and photographs at the Saint Louis Art Museum, judged exhibition entries. Fraczak received a $350 cash award, one of nineteen cash awards distributed out of the eighty-six entries included in the exhibition.

“This recognition, for me, is so valuable because it happens here, in the Springfield Art Museum, in the city where I decided to settle down with my family,” Fraczak says.

Jacek Fraczak received his masters in fine arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland. Since 2007, he has lived in Springfield and taught computer graphics and illustration courses in the art and design department. Fraczak has also been selected for “50 Places” a national printmaking exhibition curated by Melanie Yazzie of the University of Colorado. The exhibition consists of one print representing each of the fifty states. Fraczak’s print, Missouri Waltz (featured above) was selected to represent Missouri.

Fraczak is one of several artists from Springfield and the region to be featured in the Prints U.S.A. exhibition. A reception for the exhibition will be held on Nov. 18, 2011 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Springfield Art Museum. Prints U.S.A. will be on display at the museum from Nov. 19, 2011 to Jan. 8, 2012.