Monica Stroik

Having explored a variety of media throughout her life, including silversmithing, batik, and fashion, Stroik currently focuses on painting and video. She works through the process of series, creating bodies of work that are ignited by ideas. She uses drawings, collages, personal photography, writing, and travel as the inspiration for her artwork. Within the medium of painting, she explores the use of color and the contrasting elements of line, shape, and movement and will incorporate the use of the wood panel surface as an integral synthesis of her ideas. Having grown up with a father and two brothers that are all architects, she has always been enveloped by the arrangement of physical spaces and their interaction with light,  shadow, and materials. 

Stroik grew up in Reston, VA.  She received her MFA from the Mount Royal School of Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art and a BA in Studio Art from the University of Mary Washington. Her work has been exhibited across the DC metropolitan area including the Arlington Arts Center, Hillyer Art Space, Civilian Art Project, CAH Gallery, Harmony Hall, Cultural Arts Center Glen Allen, Area 405, McLean Project for the Arts, Glenview Mansion, Marymount University’s Barry Gallery, and the Stone Tower Gallery at Glen Echo. She has completed studio residencies at the Arlington Arts Center, the Torpedo Factory, the School of Visual Arts in New York, and the Workhouse Arts Center. She has been featured in New American Paintings and completed a DC Commission for the Arts mural, commissioned for the Hive Hotel. Her work is in numerous art collections including Freddie Mac and Kaiser Permanente.

Within the medium of video, Stroik collaborates with her husband, musician and composer Douglas Kallmeyer. She has mixed videos for live musical performances at numerous venues including The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, 9:30 Club, Black Cat, Atlas Performing Arts, Rhizome DC, DuPont Underground, and Rams Head Live in Baltimore.