EXHIBITION AT ARBORETUM BOLESTRASZYCE

DENDROFILE, kochają drzewa

The exhibition will be open to visitors from May 1st to 31st, 2026. The official opening, with a private viewing, will take place on May 3rd.

Arboretum i Zakład Fizjografii w Bolestraszycach

Bolestraszyce, ul. Romana Dmowskiego 80

37-722 Bolestraszyce

tel./fax. + 48 16 6716425

e-mail: arboretum@poczta.onet.pl

www.bolestraszyce.com.pl

Together with artist Peter Poplaski, who navigates between the USA and Europe, and has one foot in fine arts and the other in illustration and American comics. After having spend 5 weeks as a artists in residence, I am returning to Poland alone, to hang our exhibition entitled Dendrophiles (loving trees), which was organized as part of the artistic exchange carried out in cooperation between the Bolestraszyce Arboretum and the Vendémiaires association of Saint Mathieu de Tréviers in France.

Apart from a few exploratory trips like a visit to Krakow, we spend most of our time at the Arboretum. Peter sets up on the balcony of our room and in one of the hotel’s empty rooms. He draws and paints the yellow tree, a Thuia occidentalis aurescens, surrounded by dark tones at the crossroads of two paths, which seems to hurtle towards you like a train. He begins a very detailed sketch of a tree supported by a kind of scaffold. And he works on his projects, which he carries everywhere he goes, like comic book covers and his book of illustrations. I explored the Arboretum and its surroundings to work from life. And in the studio, I reinterpret my sketches and watercolors. I also had the idea of ​​inventing forest spirits. I divide my time between indoors and outdoors, depending on the weather. Little by little, the days are getting shorter, it’s getting cooler, and it’s raining more often, and we can see autumn approaching. The palpable atmosphere guides my steps, and I try to capture many aspects of this peaceful, paradisiacal little corner of the world.

Peter Poplaski sketchbook drawing September 9 2025.

My work at the Arboretum studio space.

 
“The Bolestraszyce Arboretum and Physiography Institute is a cultural institution of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, founded in 1975, which holds natural, cultural, educational, artistic, and scientific importance. Every year, more than a dozen temporary exhibitions of contemporary art are held, featuring Polish and international artists. Collaborations are maintained with institutions, teachers, and artists from France, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. They organize scientific seminars, conferences, art workshops, and residencies. The Arboretum also houses a multimedia gallery and a natural history museum.”