I spent many years living with my parents in the Bratislava city centre, in a large flat of one of the oldest Art Nouveau buildings. Both of my parents worked for national newspapers and I literally felt like being raised in a very noble manner. This starting point of my life gave me the confidence to be a helping hand to my peers. With a basic internet knowledge of the old days, I built a community forum for them online. I even organised competitions for young artists and animators with some publicity and sponsors.

When I moved to England between 2006 and 2010, I was suddenly celebrated as an artist-illustrator when I won a nation-wide talent competition organised by Channel 4 television called 4Talent Awards. As a direct result, I was invited to the Royal Society of Arts Fellowship in London. This shifted my life completely, I was part of luxurious events at different historic landmarks of London. I got to attend the same events as many representatives of British or foreign nobility. To name a few, it was a private view of Rubens and Brueghel exhibition at the Buckingham Palace Gallery, networking meeting at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and many more. Princess Royal introduced the President’s lecture at the RSA House and I was honoured to be there too.

Later, while still living in London, I supported illustrators from Slovakia and the Czech Republic and helped them to find projects abroad, so we made a contribution to international publishing. I brought and presented a selection of Slovakian animated shorts to a festival in France and flew to Western Australia to give a lecture about computer art.

However, in 2011, I had to come back to Slovakia. I lived and worked in a beautiful house in the Western Slovakia countryside. It became a time of some intense introspection and family life. I did not wish to lose my connections to the UK, so I began volunteering as the RSA Connector. I promoted the RSA in Slovakia and nominated a number of interesting personalities from Slovakia, France and the UK to the Fellowship successfully.

I was also sitting at the board of the Slovak Art Forum (Umelecká beseda slovenská) in Bratislava for two years. The office of this visual arts society was in the premises of Matica Slovenská in Bratislava, the Slovak cultural and historical organisation. It was quite interesting to see all the pictures of the famous Slovakian leaders from the past such as Ľudovít Štúr hanging on the wall behind me.

When my children’s books got published between 2016-18 I delivered a number of creative workshops for children in libraries and schools across Slovakia. I always had a passion for sharing my work experience in the arts, so I also gave lectures at universities.

In the end, I realised that I only followed my ancestors legacy, despite knowing so little about them. My great grandmother spoke French and played the piano and my great grandfather served the tsar’s family. Their son, my grandfather studied in Vienna but his heart was attracted by the land in Slovakia and he put his roots down here.

Unconsciously or not, I build upon the work of my family members. I am still curious and open to new chances that my exceptional life brings me. So do not hesitate to get in touch if you wish to propose a collaboration, project, art commission or so. I will always be happy to respond.

The Umelka Gallery of the Slovak Union of Visual Arts in Bratislava hosted the 7th Biennial of Applied Arts Forma 2019. The juried exhibition presented 44 designers from all corners of Slovakia. The jury selected costumes, fashion and textile design, communication graphics, sculpture and ceramics as well as photography and jewellery of the recent two years.

A dance performance opened the show on Friday evening, the 13th of December 2019. The front room of the gallery was dedicated to graphic design and illustration of books and newspapers. I provided my editorial illustration for the Guardian newspaper, that I created in 2018.

In the main gallery room, I personally admired the theatre costumes created by Lenka Kadlečíková, a designer from Myjava. The sacral window-panes designed by Pavol Muška from Čierny Brod were also very eye-catching and interesting.

Thanks to the organisers and the jury, namely Eva Cisárová-Mináriková, Pavol Choma, Miroslav Daubrava and Peter Paliatka. It was a well-exposed opportunity to showcase our commercial designs.

On the 14th of November 2019, there was an exhibition of the illustrations from the project Parky Life in the building of the agency Havas (The HKX Building, 3 Pancras Square, London). There is my illustration on the easel (left) near the other illustration created by the most recognised young Swedish illustrator living in London, Alva Skog. Yay!

14. novembra 2019 sa v budove agentúry Havas v Londýne (The HKX Building, 3 Pancras Square) konala výstava ilustrácií k projektu Parky Life. Moja ilustrácia je (vľavo) na stojane hneď vedľa najoceňovanejšej mladej švédskej ilustrátorky žijúcej v Londýne, Alvy Skog.

My work, a short comics of 4 pages, has been published in an international comics anthology The Art of Hate. The book was compiled by the London based publisher, Centrala. I created a short story with an ecological theme for this purpose. There is less than 40 authors from all around the world in the book.

Moja práca, krátky štvorstranový komiks, bola publikovaná v medzinárodnej komiksovej antológii Umenie nenávisti. Kniha bola skompilovaná Londýnskym vydavateľstvom Centrala. Vytvorila som krátky príbeh s ekologickou témou na tento účel. V knihe sa nachádza menej ako 40 autorov z celého sveta.

In July I did a photo session with an internationally recognised Italian photographer, Carlo Gianferro (winner of the World Press Photo Award for portrait) at Brancaccio Palace in Rome.

V júli som si dala urobiť sériu fotografií medzinárodne uznávaným talianskym fotografom Carlom Gianferrom (víťaz svetovej novinárskej ceny za portrét) v Brancacciovom paláci v Ríme. 

Petra Štefanková in Rome

Petra Štefanková in Rome

Petra Štefanková in Rome

Petra Štefanková in Rome

Petra Štefanková in Rome

Petra Štefanková in Rome

Petra Štefanková in Rome

Petra Štefanková in Rome

Petra Štefanková in Rome

Petra Štefanková in Rome

Petra Štefanková in Rome

Petra Štefanková in Rome

Petra Štefanková in Rome

Petra Štefanková in Rome

About the venue: Brancaccio Palace is the last Roman Patrician Palace built in 1880 in the heart of the eternal city, Rome. Located on Colle Oppio, near Emperor Nero’s, “Domus Aurea” and the seven hills, between Colosseum and the famous Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Princess Mary Elizabeth Field, the American wife of Salvatore Brancaccio, gave parties here also in honour of the King Umberto of Savoy.

O paláci: Brancacciov palác je posledný Rímsky patricijský palác postavený v roku 1880 v srdci večného mesta, Rím. Nachádza sa na Colle Oppio, blízko Domus Aurea cisára Nera a siedmych kopcov, medzi Koloseom a slávnou Bazilikou sv. Márie Maggiore. Americká princezná Mary Elizabeth Field, manželka Salvatorea Brancaccia, tu robievala oslavy tiež ako poctu kráľovi Umbertovi Savojskému.

I have written a new article for the Royal Society of Arts in London about my exhibition at St Elizabeth Oncology Institute in Bratislava. The theme is visual art in public space. I was thinking about the impact of the visual arts on the psychic of patients in hospitals, where I exhibited my art twice. In this context, it is interesting as well, that there is a lot of information about the health influence of the public art galleries and museums in the USA. You can read the full article here. Here are also two older articles I wrote for the RSA in London: 

Visual Communications and Global Issues, February 2019

Collaborative drawing in Slovakia, March 2018

A few days ago we received diplomas “The Best Children’s Book of Spring 2018” for our book Čmáranica a Machuľa from Slovak section of IBBY and Bibiana in Bratislava.

Did you know, that my profile and artworks were included in a book written by Steven Withrow and Jack Harris ’Vector Graphics and Illustration: A Master Class in Digital Image-making’ published in the UK by Rotovision in 2008? It was even translated to the Spanish language and published by Promopress in Barcelona in 2010. Moreover, it is now listed in the library catalogue of the famous Artium Museum in Spain! Direct link to the library catalogue entry here.

According to Wikipedia, the Artium Museum holds works by the most famous artists, including Joseph Beuys, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso and others.

I have another solo show in Slovakia during summer. This one is held at MCK Library in Malacky till August 30, 2019. There are prints of digital illustrations and reproductions of acrylic paintings too.