My
name is Elżbieta Wodała – I was born and live in Wrocław,
Poland. I graduated from Wrocław University of Science and
Technology and worked professionally as a bank employee.
Since
2004, I have been creating plant collages - compositions of dried
plant parts glued onto a flat, white background. The subjects of my
nearly 300 works include primarily human and fairy-tale figures
(single or in groups, including portraits), landscapes, birds,
angels, Madonnas, animals, and extraordinary places.
I
use the original collages as unique matrices, which I process into
artistic digital graphics called florotypes. Since 2016 - also
large format - printed on canvas in limited quantities.
My
first exhibition took place 20 years ago in Wrocław, Poland and
since then, my works have been presented 134 times, including
70 solo exhibitions in various Polish cities and 16
group exhibitions, including in China and South Korea,
as well as 48 author meetings, half of which were workshops.
I
have won national and international competitions (e.g., a special
award at the 2019 International Pressed Flower Art Competition in
South Korea), in the following categories: artistic handicraft –
plant collage, digital graphics (large-format florotypes), cup
designs, and illustrations.
In
2017, my three large-format
florotypes qualified for the
second stage of the international
Arte Laguna Prize competition in
Venice in the digital graphics
category - in a group of 17 artists from various countries.
I
have illustrated six collections of poetry, and two of my florotypes
were used by Oxford University Press in Hong Kong as illustrations in
integrated materials for preschool students and teachers. Some of my
works have been used as illustrations in the German magazine HAPPINEZ
published in 9 European countries, in the South Korean magazine
SCIENCE DONGA and in the international Esperanto magazine "Juna
Amiko" from Rotterdam.
However,
my greatest satisfaction and joy came from the acceptance of three
plant collages by Polish museums:
– "Emily
Chopin" – by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw as a
donation to the collection of Chopin iconography, as part of the
broader Chopin heritage;
– "Zosia"
– by the Pan Tadeusz Museum in Wrocław for the Ossoliński
Institute;
– "Roe
deer in Antonin" – the Hunting Palace of the Radziwiłł
Princes in Antonin.
Since
May 2025 I am a member of the World Wide
Pressed Flower Guild.
My
plant collage „Rhinoceros” was invited ( and sent) to be featured
in the masterpiece collection at a major exhibition of dried flower
art organized by the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild in collaboration
with the Orchid Garden in Guangzhou, China, in October of this year.
