About Hilda
The artist, Hilda Green Demsky, was born in a small town in Pennsylvania located on the banks of the Susquehanna River. Hilda learned early on about nature’s beauty and the pollution that threatens to destroy it. While growing up on the river’s edge, she recalled several instances in which nature’s elements directly impacted her life and the lives of those in her community.
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Hilda graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Painting and Design, and moved to New York. Her first job was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art selling postcards. It was just beginning of her art career in Manhattan. Hilda carried her paintings on her head, “butter side up” on the subway, while earning her Master’s Degree at Hunter College. Hilda went on to teach art at a middle school, high school and Manhattanville College.
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Hilda was commissioned to exhibit her paintings in Mykonos, Greece. Her art called attention to the garbage floating onto Mykonos beaches. She also exhibited paintings at the 50th anniversary conference of the Fulbright Association in Budapest. Her Fulbright Fellowship in Holland was another experience which motivated her to focus on flood waters. After she returned from Holland, Hilda exhibited work about global pollution at several Westchester County and New York galleries including The Rye Arts Center and The Mamaroneck Artists Guild. After this series was fully exhausted, she changed her focus to the natural beauty of our planet, away from the ugliness of garbage.
Currently Hilda has a studio and lives along the Long Island Sound, on the eastern coast of Westchester County, where she continues to express herself and passion for painting.
NATIONAL AWARDS
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The Fulbright Fellowship to The Netherlands
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Arts Education Fellowship, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Getty Center for Education in the Arts, and the Council for Basic Education to paint in Italy
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The Christa McAuliffe Fellowship from the US Department of Education in memory of the astronaut Christa McAuliffe
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The Puffin Foundation - Long Island Sound Environment, NY
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The Henry Faurest Memorial Fellowship, Indiana (Ohio River Project)
REGIONAL AWARDS
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$20,000 Basil H. Alkazzi Award for Excellence, New York Foundation for the Arts - semi-finalist
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Strategic Opportunity Stipend, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts and Garrison Art Center for “New Directions” for residency in Ireland
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Certificate of Merit, New York State Assembly for “Making Waves” at the Oresman Gallery, Larchmont, NY
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Arts Alive Artist Grant, Westchester Arts Council, funded by the New York State Council on the Arts for “Creating an Exhibition of the Bronx River as a Great Community Resource in Westchester.”
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Certificate of Merit from New York State Board of Legislators for Achievement in the Arts
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Strategic Opportunity Stipend, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts and Garrison Art Center for presentation of her art at the Fulbright Conference in Morocco
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Manhattanville College Faculty Award for travel to Morocco
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Strategic Opportunity Stipend for travel to Costa Rica for an exhibition in the National Gallery
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Strategic Opportunity Stipend for drawing the coast of California
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Strategic Opportunity Stipend for a research grant on Contemporary Women Artists in China
RESIDENCIES
2013
2012
2010
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2003
2002
1999
1989
1988
1987
Golden Apple Residency, Harrington, ME
The Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts, St. Croix, Virgin Islands
Noelle Campbell Sharp and The Cill Rialaig Artists Retreat, County Kerry, Ireland
Acadia National Park in Maine, US Department of the Interior
Andy Warhol Visual Arts Residency, Montauk, NY
The Mary Anderson Center for the Arts, Mount St. Francis, IN
The Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, Ithaca, NY
The Julia & David White Artists’ Colony, Costa Rica
The Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest, IL
The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Amherst, VA
The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Amherst, VA
Fundacion Valparaiso, Mojácar, Spain
The Vermont Studio, Johnson, VT
The Vermont Studio, Johnson, VT
Rhode Island School, Design in Providence, RI
DEGREES
BFA Painting & Design: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Josef Albers - Artist - Color workshop.
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MFA Art Education: Hunter College, New York, NY
Studied with: Gabor Peterdi - Printmaker; Tony Smith and Richard Lippold - Sculptors; and Fritz Bultman - Painter.
MEMBERSHIPS
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Arts Westchester
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Katonah Museum Artists’ Association
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Mamaroneck Artists’ Guild
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National Association of Women in the Arts
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Fulbright Association
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NY Artists’ Circle
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Women's Caucus for Art