"My paintings are memories of my childhood. The visual images of my people, our time and place---Strawberry Hill."

With memories of Croatian holidays, weddings, and daily tasks, MARIJANA Grisnik began painting in 1972. She is a self-taught artist who was born in the Strawberry Hill area of Kansas City, Kansas.

Strawberry Hill is the name of a small community settled by immigrants from Croatia in 1900. From her childhood memories, MARIJANA has created a collection of paintings.

Her paintings depict such activities as making Kobasica (sausage), gathering grain on the railroad tracks, a Croatian wedding, and Good Friday at St. John's Church. She paints from memory using the songs, the food, the arts, and the stories, which circulate among the members of the Croatian community for inspiration. She views her paintings as "giving back to the Hill what the Hill gave to me."

45 of MARIJANA's paintings are in the permanent collection of the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka, Kansas. MARIJANA's artistry is also recognized by the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C. Her paintings also hang in Croatia in both the Museum of Naive Art in Zagreb, and also in the Matica iseljenike Hrvatske offices.

MARIJANA's innate ability to record the everyday life of Croatian immigrants to America, combined with her talent for painting, make her an esteemed artist alongside the likes of Croatia's famous Naive artists (Generalic, Lackovic and others) from the Hlebine School of Naive Art.

Marijana has painted regularly for decades, producing hundreds of works from memory. Her unique skill at documenting Strawberry Hill's history has earned her accolades and museum exhibitions, both in the United States and Croatia. Although Marijana originally was surprised at this fame, believing no one would be interested in her paintings, she has since come to understand why they are appreciated. "They are a story of the Hill when they are all shown together. When I've seen them at exhibits and listen to the way people talk about them and the way they respond to them, I know it is a story of my people."

This is a SIGNED & NUMBERED PRINT, and is part of the Four Seasons Collection. The original hangs in the MATICA office in Zagreb. It measures approximately 18 inches x 22.25 inches, including the border.