PERLA ANTONIAK
Perla Antoniak is a Renaissance woman in the truest sense of the word. She is a talented artist, photographer, designer, composer, and musician. Her inspiration comes from a fusing the beautiful world around her, and the innate voice inside of her.
Her Art:
Every since she was a child she was fascinated by light, color and culture. Her innate love of creation and desire to preserve native cultural arts led her to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Brigham Young University – Hawaii. Her final BFA project was a field research study on the arts and handicrafts of Tamil Nadu, India where she lived with locals and photographed and was taught native arts for several months. She produced a book entitled “Kalai & Kaithiran” and several of her photographs have won local awards and have been featured in Mormon Artist Magazine.
Upon graduation from BYU-Hawaii, she spent some time at The American University in Cairo taking classes in Islamic Art and Architecture. While living in Egypt, she additionally took a class entitled Islamic Design Principals for the Modern World, offered by Marsam Al-Qala’a, and taught by Architect Ahmad Hamid. In addition to her studies, she also worked as a Teaching Assistant in Visual Communications for Robert Jones, a former photographer for National Geographic. At that time she also participated in a photography competition for the Alliance for Arab Women, where she won one of the five country slots for Egypt
Additionally she has studied cultural arts through study abroad’s in both her father’s homeland of Poland as well as the islands of Tonga and New Zealand. She spent two years volunteering in the Caribbean Islands as well as additional time working as an Au-Pair in Puerto Rico and Bermuda. She continues to travel the world and is constantly inspired by her experiences with different cultures abroad.
She is currently residing in Washington D.C. pursuing an MFA in Interior Architecture and Design at George Washington University and working as an intern at Kelley Interior Design.
Her Music:
At an early age she began composing, however it wasn’t until her sister Tasha was preparing to serve as a missionary that Perla felt inspired to create a song specifically for her sister’s voice: “How Great Thou Art.” It was through that composition that she discovered more deeply the union of God and music. She and her sister have performed in congregations worldwide and are currently working on recording their first CD together. A recent highlight in her musical career was in December 2012 where Perla was invited to perform at the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors’ Center: “A Musical Nativity.” This program was designed, directed and orchestrated by Perla featuring her Christmas compositions and a cast of 70 singers, musicians and performers. She is concurrently working on several oratorios and other musical works.