Portal
Ms. Dragana Crnjak
Professor
Art
Bliss Hall
phone: (330) 941-1860
Bio
Bosnian born, Dragana Crnjak moved to the United States in 1997. She received her BFA in Painting from Myers School of Art at the University of Akron, Ohio in 2002 and her MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia in 2004. She is recipient of Virginia Museum of Fine Art Professional Fellowship in drawing and multiple Individual Excellence Awards from Ohio Arts Council. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and is collected by numerous private and public collections.
Dragana Crnjak's studio practice has been based in interdisciplinary art practices, combining painting, drawing, design, public art and site-specific installations. Driven by questions of belonging and identity, Crnjak explores perception through mark-making and patterns - tracing fragmented architectural and natural landscapes to suggests spaces in transition - as still being shaped, built or erased.
Research Interests
- Contemporary Painting and Drawing
- Mural and Public Art
- Interdisciplinary art practices
- Abstract and representational painting and drawing
- Pattern / Design
- Memory and Time
- Perception and Cognitive processes
- Abstracted Landscape
- Site specific art/ large scale painting and drawing
Teaching Interests
- Painting
- Drawing
- Interdisciplinary Art
- Mural and Public Art
- Art installation/ Site Specific Art
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2004
MFA, Painting and Printmaking
Virginia Commonwealth University
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2004
MFA, Painting and Printmaking
Virginia Commonwealth University
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2002
BFA, Painting, minor in printmaking
Myers School of Art, University of Akron
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2002
BFA, Painting & Printmaking
Myers School of Art
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2024
Youngstown Cityscape
Youngstown Beautification Award
YSU art students that participated in Mural and Site-Specific Painting class on completion of Trek Mural and the group of 3 students who worked on Vellourec Mural, received the recognition for the community impact.
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2024
Brain Bridge Lab, The University of Chicago
1st Place Art of Memory Exhibition
My painting Amid So Many Alike was awarded 1st Place in the research exhibition Art of Memory, organized by Brain Bridge Lab at The University of Chicago.
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2023
Youngstown State University
University Research Grant
URC was awarded to support development of a current project Cinematic Time in Painting, consisting of sixteen paintings planned to be completed by the end of June 2024.
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2023
Ohio Arts Council
Individual Excellence Award/ Visual Art
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2022
Youngstown State University
Distinguished Professorship in Teaching
DP in teaching was awarded based on the activities I provided students since 2006 - professional and community engagement experiences including collaborative, mural and public art projects, as well as exhibition opportunities/ exposures.
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2020
Youngstown State University
Faculty Improvement Leave
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2018
Youngstown State University
Distinguished Professorship in Scholarship
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2015
Ohio Arts Council
Individual Excellence Award/ Visual Art
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2012
Youngstown State University
Research Professorship Award
Development of a body of work (12 paintings) based on travels to Iceland and exploration of Icelandic landscape and concepts of instability and impermanence in contemporary landscape.
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2011
Ohio Arts Council
Individual Excellence Award/ Visual Art
Competitive and juried selection of Ohio based artists working in visual arts.
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2008
Ohio Arts Council
Individual Excellence Award/ Visual Art
Competitive and juried selection of Ohio based artists working in visual arts.
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2006
Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI. Selected by Dominic Molon, curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
First Place, Drawing No Conclusions
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2025 - 2025
Judge
Board of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Council for the Arts (SPCARTS) -
2024 - 2024
Judge
NEO Scholastics -
2024 - 2024
Judge
Canfield High School -
2023 - 2023
Judge
NEO Scholastics