Northern Lights III

Elaine Gloria Kowalsky was born on September 24, 1948, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Rosemary Stephens and Clifford Kowalsky. She grew up in Charleswood and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) degree from the School of Art at the University of Manitoba in 1971, majoring in printmaking.

After graduation, Kowalsky moved to London, England, where she pursued postgraduate studies in printmaking at St. Martin's School of Art from 1973-74 and studied at Brighton Polytechnic. She made London's East End her home for more than 25 years, marrying Elton Bash in 1978.

Kowalsky was known for her boldly experimental woodcuts measuring 6ft x 4ft, featuring vivid imagery and dynamic mark-making. She worked across multiple media including lithography, monoprinting, painting, drawing, artists' books, ceramics, and created a pop-up book titled "The Dog Detective of Barking" (1994). Her artistic practice included "parallel narratives" series such as "Marion & Dorothy" and "Down North on the Labrador."

In 1977, Kowalsky was a founding member of the North Star Studios printmakers co-operative in Brighton. Her most significant contribution was as a founding director of the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) in 1984, serving as chair from 1984 to 2000. She campaigned for the artist's resale right legislation, which went into effect on January 1, 2006, allowing artists to receive a percentage when their work is resold.

In 1987, Kowalsky became the first recipient of the Henry Moore printmaking fellowship at Leeds Polytechnic. She earned a Master's in Visual Theory from the University of East London in 1994. Her exhibitions included shows at Canada House Gallery, Leeds City Art Gallery, and the Freud Museum in London.

Kowalsky's work is held in collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Smithsonian Institution. She was struck by a car near her London home on September 17, 2005, and died instantly at age 56. DACS named their gallery the Kowalsky Gallery in her honor.