## Breadcrumb 1. [Home](/index%2Ephp/) 2. [Overview](/index%2Ephp/academics) 3. [Faculty Members](/index%2Ephp/academics/explore-faculty) 4. [Veronika Szkudlarek](/index%2Ephp/markdownify/node/4027) # Veronika Szkudlarek ![](https://ultima7-its.ocadu.ca/bios/vszkudlarek/portrait) vszkudlarek@ocadu.ca Faculty Information Associate Professor, Tenured Faculty of Art Areas of Expertisepainting drawing Experimental Animation XR Innovation : Painting Sculpting & Animating Virtual Materiality (Research Thesis) Feminist Cultural Theory Art History and Contemporary Art Theory New Media Studies contemporary art Abstraction Szkudlarek’s experimental art practice is rooted in contemporary painting and experimental animation, where material processes and abstraction become sites for disruption and inquiry. The physical qualities of paint —its imperfections, clumps, wetness, marks—are central to her explorations that resist control. Her work situates experimental animation & contemporary painting as an evolving field of intervention, where experimentation with materials and forms becomes a critical method of research. Attentive to color relativity, her work emphasizes how even subtle color changes shift in relation to one another. Her earth-tone pink palette draws on ancient and women’s histories, like clay fertility symbols, connecting color to a broader sense of shared human experience. This is contrasted with fragmented forms—such as inflatable dolls, intestinal shapes, plastic bags, and babushka dolls— playfully layering personal and cultural references. Szkudlarek’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Queens Museum and KCAI: Centre for Contemporary Practices, and presented at institutions like NSCAD University, Columbia University, and the FATE Biennale. Gary Michael Dault of The Globe and Mail wrote that “artist Veronika Szkudlarek has already chalked up enough experiences to fuel a dozen careers in painting.” Her solo exhibition Lion Mouse in Toronto was highlighted as a must-see art event, as was her solo Painted Hybrids exhibited in Warsaw. Salman Toor and Doron Langberg included Szkudlarek's work in "In a Free State" at Luhring Augustine in 2026. She is the recipient of the Outstanding Merit Award from Pratt Institute and the OCAD University Faculty of Art Teaching Award, and has received multiple E-campus Ontario and Canada Foundation for Innovation research grants, as well as Seed funding, and was shortlisted for the BLG Equity Award. Her work has been featured in The Global Television Network, CTV News, and she has lectured globally in cities like New York City, Kigali, Jerusalem, Kansas City, Cairo, Oman, and Montreal. Szkudlarek is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Art at OCAD University. ### Works #### Virtual Materiality: Realistic Clay Sculpting in VR Extended Abstracts of the 2021 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play Published: December 31st 2021 CHI PLAY '21: The Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, Virtual Event, Austria, October 18-21, 2021 [View Article »](http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3450337.3483475) ### Education **Type:** Fine Art Pratt Institute #### Studio Art **Type:** Fine Art Concordia University ### Employment #### Associate Professor **Type:** Fine Art Ontario College of Art and Design ### Funding #### Development of an XR-Art Studio Application to Enhance Remote Learning of the Traditional Arts **Type:** Grant Creation of an innovative eXtended Reality (XR) Art Studio (XRAS) to enhance remote-learning in the traditional Fine Arts in response to Covid-19. The XRAS provides instructors and learners with a tool that addresses learning gaps associated with fundamental colour theory and colour mixing. The shift from in-person studio instruction to virtual classrooms, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has revealed many learning disparities in the visual arts, from developing proper prediction of colour to nurturing colour sensitivities of cross-cultural perspectives. Our XR learning tool assists students both in the context of their own work and a broader artistic discourse, enabling a new generation of creators to develop transferable knowledge as well as psychomotor skills. Combining the Game and XR development expertise at Ontario Tech University with the Traditional Fine Arts expertise at OCADU, the XRAS will be an innovative and effective solution to the challenges presented by remote learning. #### Capture Volumetric Video Content for Remote Learning **Type:** Grant This project develops volumetric content to be used by Ontario institutions in their fine arts programs to enhance remote learning through an embodied practice paradigm. Specifically, we record elements of studio arts practice in a number of fine arts programs (with a primary focus on material arts) to create immersive teaching content that will enable learners to better study particular artistic creation techniques. This content serves to address a gap that has emerged for studio-based instructors who have had to shift their instruction into online and/or hybrid contexts, which is communicating spatial, material and performative aspects of their instruction practice, to primarily visual and tactile learners. #### Canada Foundation for Innovation OCADU **Type:** Grant #### Virtual Materiality **Type:** Grant ### Memberships Civic Art Lab and Greenspace NYC ### Invited Positions #### President of the Pratt Artist League **Type:** Faculty of Art Pratt Institute #### Associate Graduate Faculty Member **Type:** Computer Science University of Ontario Institute of Technology