Jozef Bajus is an award winning mixed media artist. Originally from Slovakia, Bajus received his MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, (AFAD), Bratislava, Slovakia. He began his teaching career in 1990 during the Velvet Revolution, an exciting and tumultuous time in Slovakia’s history. It was a time of great energy and new beginnings, including the building of a new Fiber program at AFAD headed by Bajus. Since that time, he has held positions of visiting scholar, instructor, and coordinator at various colleges and programs in the United States and abroad including the Rhode Island School of Design, Slippery Rock University, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Penland School of Crafts, Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Split Rock, Kanazawa College of Art (Japan), and Jianxing University (China). Currently, Bajus is an Associate Professor at SUNY Buffalo State College, Buffalo, New York and serves as the Coordinator of the Fibers/Design Program.
His career has earned him numerous prestigious awards and recognition. He has been the recipient of 1st Place, Triennial of Pattern, Budapest, Hungary; selected for Triennial of Tapestry, Muzeum Wlokienictva Lodz, Poland; The George Soros Fellowship Award; Residency at Rutgers University and the Judith Brodsky Center for Print and Paper, New Brunswick, New Jersey; Esprit de Corps Award, Burchfield Penney Art Center (BPAC), Buffalo, New York; Presidents Award for Excellence and Creativity, BSC, Buffalo; The Henkel Award, Bratislava, Slovakia and the Langley H. Kenzie Award, BPAC, Buffalo.
Bajus’ work has exhibited in numerous one – person, and groups exhibitions, nationally and internationally, and is in the collection of many museums, art galleries worldwide including the Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava; The City Gallery of Bratislava – Mirbach Palace, Bratislava; Trencin Art Gallery of M.A.B., Trencin, all in Slovakia; as well as the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo; the Gregg Museum of Art and Design in Raleigh, North Carolina; The Racine Art Museum in Racine, Wisconsin; Szombathely Art Museum in Szombathely, Hungary; and The Moravian Art & Craft Museum in Brno, Czech Republic. His artwork is also included in private collections in Europe, North America, Japan, and China.