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“As a visual artist and a dancer, I find many connections between abstract painting and improvisational dance. Just as I let the music move me from within, I allow my artistic intuition to bring my brush to life.

“I make art because I don’t know how to live without creating. The foundation of my art is connections. I aim to communicate the essence of a relationship or place with my visual language. In my art, ideas and expressions are more important than the materials. My goal is to transport the viewer to a place, person or moment in their life.” – Yildiz Grodowski

I met Yildiz Grodowski on a cool morning at my usual hangout, the Neighborhood Restaurant in Union Square, Somerville. Grodowski is originally from Turkey, but now resides in Somerville, and has a shared space at the Vernon Street Studios, a well-known artists venue in our burg.

Grodowski used to live in Cambridge. She views Somerville as “Cambridge without an attitude.” She told me she used to be a sculptor but switched to painting. She said she had to downsize. The space required for sculpture was daunting. She reflected, “I don’t miss it, once I made the decision I didn’t look back.” The artist told me she took a workshop, and gradually began to see the freedom she could experience with painting.

Grodowski, who has an MFA from the Istanbul State Academy of the Arts, as well as Boston University, told me that she is also a dancer. She was into competitive dance. Her special interests are in ballroom dancing and other styles. She told me she especially liked to dance the Tango. She reflected, “There is movement in dance, and intuitively I think that sense of music is in my paintbrush.”

I asked Grodowski about her artistic process. I told her I often give up on a poem if it is not working. But not her. She told me, “I work with watercolor and acrylics. I play with ideas, there may be a struggle, but eventually I meet the roadblock head on, and eventually come up with something good.”

Grodowski describes her paintings as narratives of her life, from her childhood in Turkey, to her many years in the United States.

I asked the artist if she feels art is more appreciated in Turkey than the United States. She opined, “I feel art is appreciated more in Europe in general. Perhaps art is viewed more as a commodity in the states.”

The artist has a shared space at the Vernon Street Studios (once a foam rubber plant). She told me, “I am very pleased to be there. I love the community there.”

Grodowski talked about the disparity between men and women in the arts. It seems to her that even today the gap between genders is still prevalent. Male artists’ work commands higher prices, and in general they are more respected in the art world than women. I asked her if she was a feminist. She smiled, “Yes, I hope you are, aren’t you?”

Grodowski will have an exhibit of her work through November and December 2021: JUMP IN!, Galerie d’Orsay, 33 Newbury Street, Boston, MA. https://www.yildizgrodowski.com/