Renata Plis
Koszalin, Poland Multidisciplinary Artist
Late Polish artist Renata Plis (born Slupecka, d. 1986) was a passionate painter, sculptor, and black-and-white photographer based in Koszalin, a town in Poland on the Baltic coast. Studying at the local art college in the 1970s and 80s, she constantly created with oils, clay, and textiles, even building a darkroom inside her family apartment. Today, this archive preserves her surviving works, while her creative talent continues to live on through the contemporary art of her son, Michal Plis.
Artworks by Renata Plis
Due to the turbulent era in which she lived, much of Renata's original artwork was tragically sold, lost, or discarded over time. With the help of her sister, Beata Slupecka, her son Michal Plis has spent years searching for and preserving her surviving pieces. This curated gallery archives her known works, from her darkroom photography to her surviving paintings, drawings, and sculptures.
Studio Life of Renata Plis
She had a profound need to create, and you can see that restless, beautiful energy in these snapshots. Most of her life in art was spent at the Zespół Szkół Plastycznych im Władysława Hasiora in Koszalin, Poland, where her workspace knew no boundaries. A patch of grass became a drawing room, a warm day was the perfect excuse to bring textiles outside, and every courtyard was a place to build. This was her studio life: hands always busy, surrounded by friends, and constantly making something new out of the world around her.
Biography of Renata Plis
My mother, Renata Plis (born Renata Slupecka), was a true multidisciplinary artist, a painter, sculptor, and photographer who was constantly creating long before I was born.She studied at the local art college, Zespół Szkół Plastycznych im Władysława Hasiora, in our small town called Koszalin, on the Baltic coast in the Pomeranian region of Poland, during the 1970s and 80s. She loved making art with the same intensity that I do today. She would go out into nature with her younger sister, Beata Slupecka, capturing subjects and ideas as an accomplished black-and-white photographer.She was so dedicated to her craft that she even set up a photo-developing darkroom right inside our little apartment in Koszalin. She worked with everything she could get her hands on: painting, drawing, textiles, and clay.She died in a tragic accident in 1986 when I was just three years old. Several years later, at the age of seven, I stumbled upon her old art tools hidden in my bedroom cupboards. Without any formal training, I started using those tools instinctively. Even though oil paints were difficult for a child to understand, I found that I was naturally good at it. Soon after, our lives turned upside down when we relocated to Melbourne, Australia.I know her creative hours were often scored by the music of Pink Floyd. That shared appreciation for inspirational music during art making definitely lives on in me. Today, I rely on ambient music, like Pink Floyds instrumental track "Cluster One", to find my own inspiration and focus when I'm creating.I got my talent from her. In a way, a part of her creativity stayed with me. I keep creating because a part of her is me, and I know I will see her again one day.
Signed
Michal Plis
Melbourne, Australia
24/02/2026