Stephen Poleskie was an internationally known artist and writer who taught screen printing and studio art classes at Cornell for 32 years. In his long and colourful career as a self-taught artist, he had works purchased by and exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum in New York, and the National Collection in Washington D.C among others. Steve tutored David Eisenhower as an art teacher at Gettysburg high school and opened a screen printing unit in a storefront on East 11th Street that became Chiron Press - the first fine-art screen-printing shop in New York. Steve is most known for his ‘Aerial Theatre’ performances where Poleskie flew an aerobatic biplane, trailing smoke, through a series of maneuvers to create a four-dimensional design in the sky. During his later years, he devoted himself entirely to fiction and has published five novels and numerous short stories. He is a three-time Pushcart nominee.

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Steve passed away on November 21, 2019, and it is cruel that after an affectionate friendship in letters spanning five years, I had to chance upon the news upon a restless fit on his Wikipedia page, after one long year. If you don't know about Steve's work, go here and be dazzled. Here's his feature article on aerial theatre published back in Oddity12, one of our best issues to date. Also, read an unpublished short story he emailed me for a read and I love it.

 

Always, #StayOdd, Steve!