Michelle Cieloszczyk

hooting and hollering at my Michigan hunnies who made me feel so very much & just like that two years of my life packed up & hello, I’m back in Canada

I’m officially a maestro of fine art & filled with gratitude to have spent two years learning from my cohort and all in Stamps that I crossed paths with. Scroll for the sweetest lil graduation party, thank you @rebekalisation for making me feel so loved. And à la fin a luscious photoshoot with the fluffiest poodle I’ve ever seen, Giselle. I’m so excited for what comes next, I’ve been hired as Interim Operations Manager at @strutsgallery and I’ll be moving to New Brunswick later this month! See you soon!

A sweet farewell to my Polish ladies and Michigan friends, Madga even wrote me a goodbye poem 😩🥹❤️

The Spring Sacrifice of Marzanna, March 7, 2026 at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens @matthaeinichols @michiganarts Antoni Mączka, the organist of St. Florian Church in Hamtramck, conducted a 22-piece orchestra/choir for the event. Together we chose three Polish folk songs for the event: “Bandoska” by Mazowsze, “Oj Świeci Miesiąc” by Rokiczanka and “Cieszyn” by Mazowsze. The first song is about women farm laborers who plead for the sun to go down so that they may rest: “Nogi bolu chodzić, rance bolu robić, zachodźże, słónecko, skoro mos zachodzić.” (Our feet hurt walking, our hands hurt working, set, sun, since you are to set.) The second song (The Moon Shines) was a romance, but I adapted the lyrics: Oj, świeci księżyc, świeci, gwiazdy pomagają, oj, jeszcze moje oczka, [Marzanny] nie znają, oj da, oj da, oj da da - na, da - na, oj da, oj da, oj da da - na, da - na. Oj, znają one, znają, tylko tak udają, oj, bo same nie wiedzą, [jak docenić mają] English Translation: Oh, the moon shines, it shines, the stars are helping, oh, yet my eyes, don’t know [Marzanna], oh da, oh da, oh da da - na, da - na, oh da, oj da, oh da da - na, da - na. Oh, know, they know. they just pretend, oh, because they themselves don’t know, [how to cherish her] ~ Video by Ben Zink @bzink92 Thank you MBG, Arts Initiative and Ann Arbor Polonia Association for supporting the event ❤️ #polishfolklore #marzanna #topieniemarzanny #polishfolk #effigy

Documentation of three community events, playing on 65” TV surrounded by a circle of mulberry tree trunk seating: The Autumn Rite of Marzanna, 2025 Single channel video, 8:25 min The Winter Rite of Marzanna, 2025 Single channel video, 7:27 min The Spring Sacrifice of Marzanna, 2026 Single channel video, 9:41 min ~ Tree trunks from @rebekalisation ❤️❤️ Photo @andy.kajie

The Spring Sacrifice. passage into the un-world The Summer Rite becoming not I, so everything The Autumn Rite reborn, and remembering I The Winter Rite fully grown, all powerful, so feared Traditionally Marzanna is only engaged with on the first day of spring. I created a series of seasonal events that expand the narrative of her lifecycle. Curiously she is activated in the inverse of the seasons. ~ Mountain ash berries (pomes), also known as rowanberry, jarzębina in Polish, has a folk history of protective qualities. The processional necklace-trees, hold mountain ash and crabapple necklaces made by my mother and I. We harvested the berries, washed them, pierced every single one with a needle and thread, and closed the loop, making 80 necklaces. It took hours. 🪡 Photos by @andy.kajie

O, Marzanno! my MFA thesis exhibition just closed at @umstampsgallery As you entered the gallery you were greeted by a powerful and imposing woman, protecting those around her (a woman I aspire to be). She was the most empowered of all the Marzannas I sculpted this year: She is a woman with bite. Her thorn teeth could stab, pierce, and maim. She shows her teeth to a world so ready to chew her up and throw her out. Her bare grassy flesh is unabashed and takes up space. How powerful it must be, to be gorgeous, filthy, hideous, of the earth, smelling of soil, leaves, mushrooms, growth, decay, and spillage. ~ I received some beautiful feedback from our visiting critics Aruna D’Souza, Robin K. Williams, and Alisha Wormsley on where to go from here. I’m resting over here in gratitude for everyone that contributed to my growth. New worlds on this earth might be born in the bloom of such generosity towards each other. ~ Marzaneczko, serce me, gaśnie męka po tobie. (Marzanna, my heart, suffering sent with you.) 2026 Grass, black locust branches, honey locust thorns, twine, birch bark, mushrooms, sumac, rose hip, mountain ash berries, crabapples, milkweed seedpod, black berry branches, bittersweet berries, black walnut husk, wax, steel. Photos by @andy.kajie

I - Topienie Marzanna à la leśna (forest) Magda II - “So now Wanda, we can go to the end of the earth! Oh yes, absolutely” III ~ Happily holding Magda’s Marzanna IV - V ~ @modiusmodi took legendary photos of Canadian besties amidst graffiti

Today is my babcia’s bday, I cast her hand when I was visiting her in Poland this past winter 🪾 Her hand looks like magic skin like the bark of a tree, veins like a river. Aging is beautiful isn’t it? First phot captured by @modiusmodi 🌷

O, Marzanno! My thesis exhibition opened yesterday at @umstampsgallery just in time for the Spring Equinox. Today March 21, many a Marzanna made their passage to the other side. Thank you Ann Arbor Polish School for having me ❤️

I’m still basking in the glow of ‘The Spring Sacrifice of Marzanna’, many burdens flowed downstream alongside our effigies. Thank you all, thank you all, my heart is absolutely full ❤️ Photos by @andy.kajie

Soon, so soon!