Eirene is a teacher, writer/poet, artist, workshop facilitator, world explorer, mother, and Orthodox Christian.

 

MY SUPERPOWERS:

TEACHING

  • 30 years in NYC Dept of Ed as English, Spanish, ESL, Journalism, Art, Digital Arts including AP exams teacher working in every borough except Staten Island

  • 8 years as a Special Education teacher for the Home Instruction program attending to medically necessary instruction including cancer, surgery, psychiatric illnesses

  • adjunct professor for SUNY and CUNY in English Literature and Composition, ESL Composition

  • itinerant instructor for the University of Maryland at USAFE Headquarters, Ramstein Air Base

  • visiting professor American College of Greece, Deree

  • EFL Instructor and tutor at Institute of North American Studies, Barcelona; AmidEast, Ramallah, Palestinian Occupied Territories


WRITING

  • freelance journalist/essayist for This Week in Palestine, Gulf News, Brooklyn Eagle, Vox, The National Herald, Ins and Outs, et al.

  • created the first and only blog dedicated to the needs, interests, and accomplishments of women of the Hellenic Diaspora with 100K plus/month visitors at www.greekamericangirl.com.

  • published children’s books, St Tryphon, St. Theochtiste, Lessons from my Cat and memoir

  • published poetry and illustrations in literary journals Arkana, Calyx Press, Duende

  • contributor to The Mighty, Medium, OrthoChristian, OCN, Pravmir, Pemptousia



Art Making

  • exhibiting encaustic, photographer, multi-media artist with shows in Greece, Moscow, Rome, and NYC including Atlantic Gallery, Chelsea, Arts Student’s League, Jamaica Center for the Arts, LIC Plaxall Gallery

  • sustains Atelier Eirene, a creative studio space offering art classes and micro-gallery in Long Island City

  • established the first and only FREE LITTLE ART GALLERY in Astoria, a community-based art project to encourage creativity, community, and compassion

  • attended residencies in South Africa resulting in Plant Portraits, a solo show at Driftwood Studios, Rainbow Valley, Eastern Cape, South Africa


WORKSHOP DESIGN AND FACILITATION

  • designed expressive arts workshops for a spectrum of groups, including at-risk youth, victims of domestic violence and trauma, professional women, church groups, orphans, emotionally challenged, autistic teens

  • professional and ethical standards of the International Expressive Arts Association through REACE designation

  • collaborated with many organizations to tailor expressive arts workshops including Socrates Sculpture Park, OCAMPR, St Spyridon’s Orthodox Church, Artstoria, Astoria Park Alliance, Compost Collective

BIO

Eirene archolekas

Irene Arholekas, or Eirené, is a writer, artist, and teacher.  Born to Greek parents in South Africa, she has lived and worked across three continents, several European cities, including Athens, Heidelberg, Barcelona, and Jerusalem.  She also facilitates expressive arts workshops based on the ethical and professional practices of the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association, of which she is a member.  She believes that art can heal, and beauty can save the world. 

Encaustic is her go-to medium as it provides a direct connection to her ancestral past. It assists in uncovering the many fused layers of identity, and its versatility lends well to the sort of psychic archeology inherent in her work.  Its complexity is a function of its multi-sensual nature as well--textural, visual, tactile, olfactory. To center her practice, she begins with inspiration from the natural world.  It is not uncommon to discover many foraged natural materials in her compositions.  She speaks primary through the textures that are possible in encaustic, varying the smooth balanced shiny surfaces with the agonizing textured ones so that the surface of her paintings registers a palpable felt sense.  Through a subtle negotiation between her own will and the medium’s, the work is born. 

MY ETHOS with EVIDENCE

COMPASSION

-volunteered for six months at Orthodox School of Bethany, West Bank as teacher trainer and fundraiser raising $150K for school, acted as role model for 30 boarding school girls

-conducted three mission trips to the Orthodox Mission de San Andres, Guanabacoa, Havana, Cuba bringing needed supplies, food, medicine; fundraised and set up Facebook and GoFundMe account to gather donations to establish a monthly food fund to feed parishioners and visitors to the church

-volunteered to teach English in Palestinian refugee camps

 

Creating cOMMUNITY

Open Mindedness

-actively seek out to know new cultures, new countries, new experiences

-life-long learner who is constantly taking classes, reading books, attending conferences and seminars

-traveled through 48 countries, and have lived in five cities; speak three languages and holds three passports

CORE VALUES

NATURE: walking and living in nature, living sustainably, makes up my core; Nature is my inspiration. My work is grounded in the natural world. Nature heals me.

CREATIVITY: inspired by other artists and writers; I seek out creative experiences and try to stick to a schedule to have creative output on a daily basis.

ORTHODOX SPIRITUALITY: my faith is the foundation of my life; it has shaped my character, my world-view and permeates my work. The truth of the Christian message and the deep wisdom of the Eastern Orthodox tradition is who I am.

ARTIST STATEMENT

CV