Walter Chruscinski

WALTER CHRUSCINSKI earned a B.A. from The Art Institute of Chicago, and a M.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University. In 1963, he became Student-at-Large for The Academy of Arts in Warsaw, Poland. Upon returning to the U.S., Walter was an instructor with The Young Artists Studio at The Art Institute of Chicago, and then, moved on to the position of Chairman/Instructor at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. In 1972, he received a grant from the Kosciusko Foundation Foreign Study Program to attend The Department of Ethnography at The University of Warsaw in Poland. In 1983, Walter was appointed by the governor to the Illinois Arts Council. He was curator for The Chicago Cultural Center’s exhibits entitled: “Polish Folk Art”, “Religious Textiles”, and “Parish Treasures: 150th Anniversary of The Catholic Church in Chicago”. Walter, recently, donated more than 250 Polish Folk Art sculptures from his personal collection to The Polish Institute in Miami, Florida. He continues to reinvent himself through his painting. Since 2020, Walter has produced more than 200 works of art.