Columbia County artist/beekeeper who grew up in the Hudson Valley and finds the inspiration for her encaustic work from her surrounding environment, gardens and her bees. Her works combines beeswax with paper, pigment oils, drawings, photographs, graphite, india ink and found objects. She finds the medium close to her heart as she brings the fruits of nature to the canvas in a full circle. She stepped into the ancient medium by chance and discovery after her retirement from higher education. Her works are ethereal: rich in depth and luminosity. Her tools of choice are blowtorches, heat guns, hot tools and anything that will make scratch marks on the wax surface. She claims that when she works she steps into a magical painting process unlike any other medium she has worked with.

"Throughout my adult life as an artist I have been involved in the art world on many spectrums as an artist, gallery director and community arts organizer. As a young child I was trained in still life and plein air. Throughout my young adulthood I pursued the field of commercial and graphic arts. As s a student in the summer programs at New York Phoenix School of Design, NYC Branch I focused in commercial, graphic design and photography. With this rich arts background combined with beekeeping I immersed in the field of Encaustic Art. This ancient form of art sparked my interest and intensified my passion that continues to this day.”

— Maria Kolodziej-Zincio

Art has always been my calling. The training and experiences I have had throughout my life has attributed to many creative opportunities: I was the co-creator of the Olana/Columbia County Council on the Arts “Landscape Within the Landscape." and have exhibited in juried and solo shows throughout Albany, Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Ulster Counties and in New York City. My experience as an artist, Board Member and Gallery Director at the Columbia County Council on the Arts and member of the Greene County Council on the Arts, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum and Tivoli Artist Gallery have given me an abundance of opportunities in the operation of a curating and event planning. I held professional memberships in the National Association of Women Artists, Inc. and was the 2013 recipient of the (NYFA) New York Foundation on the Arts through the State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) Individual Artist Tier Award administered through the Community Arts Grants Fund (DEC) Decentralization Program. The grant allowed for my 20 piece encaustic project "The Forgotten Holocaust". An encaustic documentary exhibit that was exhibited throughout NYS. The project was published in Metroland, Hill Country Observer, Times Union and cited in North Light Book "The Art of Story Telling". I am a 2013 MARK Artist of the New York State Council on the Arts which is a series of professional development programs in establishing blueprints for artist projects, career and business goals.

Email: mkzincio@gmail.com

Instagram: @mariazincio

Facebook: maria.kolodziej