Joanna Zjawinska was born in a small Polish mining town in 1950. She began to paint at age six. From an early age Zjawinska wanted to pursue a career in art, but her parents, fearing that she would not be able to make a career as an artist, discouraged her. To please her parents, Zjawinska decided to study architecture. She earned a B.A. from the School of Architecture in Warsaw in 1972. After this, however, she decided to follow her personal vision. She enrolled in the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, where she perfected her unique style of oil and watercolor painting. Zjawinska received her Master of Fine Arts degree (with honors) in 1978. Zjawinska's talent was such that she was quickly successful in Europe, and her first exhibition in the United States took place in 1975 at the Polish Institute of Art in New York City. In 1979 she moved to the United States, first living in New York, and then moving to San Francisco. Her unique personal vision and distinct style quickly struck a chord among American connoisseurs and collectors. Zjawinska's world is feminine: a seductive world of restrained passion, of a smoldering sensuality needing just a spark to burst into open flame. This juxtaposition of two seeming opposites casts an aura of mystery over all of her works. Her characters are quiet, patient, seemingly serene. But it is the serenity of a jungle cat. The viewer senses the heated passions running just below the surface. We sense a drama being enacted, and find our imaginations drawn into speculating as to the outcome. It is this combination of tension, of waiting, of anticipation, which makes Zjawinska's work so compelling. Since her arrival in the United States, Joanna Zjawinska has had numerous solo exhibitions in New York, Beverly Hills, New Orleans, San Francisco, Carmel, La Jolla, and Sausalito. Her works hang in the Polish National Museum, in Torun, Poland; and in The Polish Institute in New York City. Prestigious corporate collections include: Esprit, San Francisco; Warner/Vanderbilt, New York; Elizabeth Arden, San Francisco; Nordstom, Inc., in Seattle; and Parfumerie Guerlin, Paris. Her extensive list of private collectors includes novelist Jackie Collins and television personality Richard Simmons.