Aleta was born into a large family in a rural town in Connecticut. Her playground was the large wooded lot, trees serving as her jungle gym and play yard.  Even as a very young child, Aleta could be found napping in the woods surrounded by the sounds and smells of her sacred space. 

 She formed a deep spiritual bond with the woods often finding solitude and peace in the bosom of trees making imaginary friends with animals, birds and all manner of critters.  Aleta’s early connection and bond to the natural world continues to be a powerful inspiration and subject of her paintings.

Aleta always loved drawing and sketching as a youngster, but was encouraged to follow a more “secure” career path in college. She graduated high school in the 1960's, when women were not encouraged to be artists; teaching then was a more acceptable career choice.

While raising her family Aleta completed her BS in art education from Southern Connecticut State University.  Aleta’s passion for fine arts lead her to earn her MALS with a concentration in painting from Wesleyan University.

Aleta 's studio stayed active while teaching which included private lessons, high school art educator at Vinal Regional Vocational High School, and East Catholic High School, as well as teaching fine art as an adjunct professor at Middlesex Community College.  Aleta is a lifetime learner. 

She continued her education in Fine Arts and earned a Post Baccalaureate Degree from Lyme College of Fine Art while continuing to teach at the local community college.

Aleta’s studio is her sacred space where her love of nature and the environment enable her to create, with deep passion, the images that speak of journey and ultimate peace.

Solo Exhibitions

“Silence Speaks”, Clare Gallery, Hartford CT. August – October 2009

“Reflections: An Interior Journey-Drawings and Paintings by Aleta Gudelski, Middlesex Community College, Middletown, CT February- March 2009

“Greek Temples”, Paying Homage to New England Farms and Homesteads, Art Gallery at the Millhouse, Chester, CT 2007

Faculty Select Summer Exhibit, featuring Arleta’s Post-Baccalaureate Independent Project, Lyme Academy College of Fine Art, Old Lyme, CT, June- July 2005

“Haiti: A personal Response” Pegasus Gallery, Middlesex Community College, Middletown, CT 1995

“Conversations with Light- Thesis Exhibit” Zilka Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, May1991

Group Exhibitions 

Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme, CT, New England Landscape Invitational, 2022

Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme, CT, Ship to Shore: Marine Show, 2022 

Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme CT, Expanding Horizons, 2022.

Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme, CT, An Exhibition in Four Acts, Black and White, 2022

Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme CT, First Impressions: 30 Annual Associate Artist Show, 2022

Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme, CT, Deck the Walls, November 16, 2018

Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme, CT, New England Landscape Invitational, September 28-November 9, 2018

Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme, CT, Summer Painting and Sculpture, August 10-September 21, 2018.

Spectrum Gallery, Essex CT, The Road Less Traveled, July 20- September 9, 2018.

Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme CT, "American Waters: "A Marine Show and Hudson Valley Art Association. June 15-August 3, 2018

Art Guild of Middletown 15th Annual Juried Show, Zilka Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT June 9-16, 2018

German Christmas Shoppe, Ursel's Web Fine Art Gallery, Middletown, CT 2018

"Reflections, Hammonasset State Park", Watercolor Series, The Gallery at the Mill, Chester, CT, August 2013

Awards 

Expanding Visions, Traditional and Beyond, Award of Merit, Lyme Art Association, 2022.

First Impressions, Associate Artist’s Show, First Place, Lyme Art Association, 2022.

Honorable Mention: Art Guild of Middletown 15th Annual Juried Show, Last Spring Snow, Oil on Canvas 18 x 24

The Lyme Academy College of Fine Art award a month fellowship residency to the Vermont Studio Center residency during August 2007.

Langrock Grant,  (three weeks study in Italy) Middlesex Community College, 1987

Artist's Statement

I cannot change the world, but I can create quiet centers within my art where others may consider its meaning.

Painting is my interior response to the world around me. I am driven, sometimes with passion sometimes with deep concern by the beauty and power, of the created world and its effect on human kind. My work is a journey of letting go and allowing intuition to work through me and through my brush to capture images that reflect peace, at times tension and frequently subtle challenges. 

I have strived to artfully merge abstraction and realism to create a visual journey from ordered chaos to peaceful repose. 

The words of Piet Mondrian summarize my journey as an artist.

“The role of the artist is humble. He (she) is essentially a channel.”

"Humanity is surrounded by divine art. My life's work has been an artistic adventure to capture these images of joy bringing pleasure and occasionally, introspection to one's heart, mind and spirit." – Aleta