Ilona Jurkiewicz, painter and heraldic artist with the Canadian Heraldic Authority in Ottawa since 1994.
Ilona's career began as an exhibit designer and book illustrator. She was born in 1959 in Poland, where she obtained her high school diploma ‘Matura' and began college education in art history and arts education, while also working during summers as exhibit designer/coordinator at the Provincial Art Gallery in Sieradz and illustrating a volume of poetry, published in 1984. Due to the political strain of the Marshall Law, she left Poland for Rome, Italy, where she stayed for a year studying paintings and monuments and working. Near the end of her sojourn in Italy she married her fiancée, Zbigniew, at the St Anne Church in Vatican and in 1984 she and her husband immigrated to Canada, and settled in Ottawa.
In 1986 she went back to study Fine Arts at the University of Ottawa, graduating with honors in 1989, with BFA, Studio, Cum Laude (Bilingual Program).
During the next few years she worked as a freelance exhibit designer (Masters of the Crafts and the Coast Salish Blankets exhibits) for the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec. She completed her first heraldry commissions during the same time. By 1995 she was accepted as one of heraldic artists with the Canadian Heraldic Authority in Ottawa. In 1996 she participated in the International Heraldry and Genealogy Conference in Ottawa where she was introduced to a wide range of heraldic art styles which sparked her deeper interest in the field. The next few years were devoted to the development of her own distinct style in heraldic arts.
To strengthen her knowledge of the culture of her adopted country, Ilona began to take graduate courses in Canadian Art History at Carleton University. In 1998 she was invited to produce an exhibition The Art of Bread at the St Kolbe Museum near Lodz in Poland. She was responsible for developing visual concept, supervising production of the catalogue and of the exhibit design and installation, issuing press release, etc. The following year she co-curated exhibition of prints by a Canadian Native artist “The Koan of Carl Beam” at the Carleton University Art Gallery in Ottawa where she developed texts for labels, introductory panels, etc. She completed her graduate research practicum at the Canadian War Museum, studying the Canadian War Art Collection under supervision of chief curator, Dr Laura Brandon.
In 2000 she and her family moved to Mississauga, near Toronto, where her husband accepted a new position. Ilona concentrated her attention on heraldry again taking part in discussions and publishing articles in the Heraldry in Canada and also taking a more active role in the activities of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada. For two years (2007 – 2009) she served as president of the Toronto Branch, RHSC, producing a number of successful branch events, most notably the Exhibit of Armorial Bookplates by Gordon Macpherson at the Kelly Library and Archives, St. Michael's College, and publishing the exhibit catalogue. She also organized a symposium Heraldry of the Most Serene Commonwealth with TB Patron, Sir Conrad Swan, as guest of honour at the Auditorium of St Michael's College, University of Ottawa. For Christmas Dinner, 2009, Ilona invited special guest, the Canadian War Artist and former heraldic artist, Karen Bailey, who presented her new works based on her sojourn with the Canadian contingent in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Her curriculum includes institutional and private commissions. Ilona designed and painted arms for the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto and for the Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts and many others.
Honours and awards
- 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
- 2011 Honorary Fellow of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada