Background

The Bronislaw and Hedi Bak Art Legacy Project is an independent family based research project. Founded after the death of Bronislaw Bak in 1981, the project works to identify and document works by the artists on behalf of collectors and interested patrons who have discovered Bronislaw and Hedi's work. The Bak Legacy project also serves as an example to families, friends and colleagues of artists who have passed who are faced with the significant challenge of preserving both the physical legacy of their work and the knowledge of their contribution to society. A significant number of prints, drawings and paintings as well as documents from the Bak archives are in Georgia, which are available for viewing by appointment only.

Acknowledgements

We want to acknowledge and thank a number of friends and colleagues, both past and present who have contributed to this effort over the years.

In 1984, GSC Faculty members Doris Pearce and Delma Pressly and Frieda Gernant, Professor Emeritus of Art served as the officers of the Committee to preserve and bring before the public the works of Bronislaw Bak. Over 30 other faculty members, the Dean of the College, the President of the College and the Mayor of Statesboro were original signers to this effort. Fellow artists and Friends like Chuck Cooper, Earl Hooks and Sandor Demlinger gave their thoughts, memories and encouragement early on.

Later in Atlanta, we had the support and encouragement of Gilla Jutte, art dealer and patron, now in Munich. Professor Tom Lymon at Emory and Elizabeth Paper in St. Paul, as well the late Keith Rathmussen, artist, printmaker and Director of the Art Center in La Grange who arranged the wonderful travelling exhibit that showed Bronislaw's works in three states and eight venues in the 1990s.

With the move of the collection to Acworth, Georgia in 2005 more help came from the support of the artists of Gallery 4463 as well as, volunteer efforts by the late Linda Patterson, who was a friend of Hedi and Bronislaw in the 1970's in Statesboro, and Danielle Petrowski, Laura Smead, Giovanni Vasko student interns along with Professor Valerie Dibble at Kennesaw State University who continue to provide us with exceptional support and encouragement. Many of these I mentioned, friends and colleagues of my parents generation have passed away but their support helped us keep this project alive and brought us to this point. We can't thank you all enough.