Under-the-radar international art exhibit in Sioux Falls venue benefits Ukraine

Artist Ludmila “Mila” Pawlowska understands that those who view her artwork on display at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church leave with different understandings of her message.

She not only expects that, but also she welcomes it.

“This is at a church, and it’s icons, but it’s not exactly church art — although everything Ludmila does looks to what she refers to as the divine,” Our Savior’s Lutheran communications director Bill Reynolds said, describing the “Icons in Transformation exhibit” on display at the church through Jan. 11.

“You can look at these pieces, and you will see a definite religious aspect. Sometimes, you stand in front of them, and you wonder what it is you’re seeing here. Ludmila herself has said the art means what the viewer takes from it.”

The only appearance in South Dakota of the international touring exhibit of the contemporary artwork is at Our Savior’s, 909 W. 33rd St. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Guided tours are available, but visitors also can see it on their own.

More than 200 pieces of art are on display, and all are for sale. One piece sold locally while the exhibit was being set up, Reynolds said. Pawlowska is donating her artist’s proceeds from “Icons in Transformation” sales to Ukrainian relief. She is a native of Kazakhstan who now resides in Sweden with her husband, Jan Lech, director of the Gallery Odenslunda Scandinavian Art Center.

Pawlowska’s pieces are inspired by traditional iconography, and the exhibit includes traditional Russian icons. Icons are symbolic images on flat boards, typically adorned with gold leaf. According to a pamphlet about Pawlowska, icons are “windows to heaven,” depicting God through events that happened and people who lived a long time ago.

“A lot of these pieces have eyes in them,” Reynolds said. “One could look at that as the Divine watching over you. I was talking to my son about it, and I said, or the eyes could be you looking for the Divine. Rather than being watched, you are watching.”

“Icons in Transformation” has been touring the United States since 2011. Pawlowska deliberately chooses churches for the exhibit sites.

“Mainly it’s in churches because it gives a different perspective — understanding of the art and spirituality, she said. “It’s a way of seeing the unseen through the contemporary arts.”

Pawlowska, who lived in Russia for a time, began creating the artworks that make up “Icons in Transformation” more than 20 years ago, after the death of her mother. Before that, she had focused on landscapes, flowers and abstract objects.

“But then, I kind of tried to find meaning in my life,” she said. “After (her mother’s) funeral, I went back to Russia, and I visited different churches, different monasteries, and icons became a source of inspiration of unconditional love, new way of seeing the divine.”

Reynolds describes the pieces as tactile. They have depth, he said, and the artist has incorporated physical items into them.

“You want so desperately to touch it, but it’s artwork, so you’re not supposed to,” he said. “Even what you would look at as a painting has dimensionality to it. It sort of has things stuck on it that capture the imagination. There’s a theme, but they’re all very different.”

While the exhibit’s timing during the religious seasons of Advent and Christmas was coincidental, it offers another dimension to the end of one year and the start of another, Reynolds said.

“It fell into our laps, but it’s proven to be quite advantageous,” he said. “People who have relatives visiting for Christmas, they can show it off to their out-of-town visitors.”

Pawlowska and her husband will return to Sioux Falls next month to prepare the exhibit for its next move, this time to West St. Paul, Minnesota. That will be its 38th stop.

Tours offered

Tours are at no cost, with freewill donations accepted. Self-guided viewings can be done between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 11 am. to 2 p.m. Sundays. Guided tours are available: noon to 2 p.m. Sundays, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays, by appointment Tuesdays, 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays and 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays.

Arrangements will be made to schedule a guide if needed on Tuesdays. Additional private showings on other days can be scheduled upon request.