John Mielcarek

John Mielcarek was born in Buffalo in 1923 to Polish immigrant parents. He was a retired commercial and journeyman painter, private art instructor, sign painter, industrial spray painter, and a City of Buffalo water division painter. He had been married 61 years, and had raised four children while working two jobs, using his spare time for his artwork. Mielcarek said he had been an artist since the age of seven and studied at South Park High School and took art classes at Millard Fillmore College at the Universtiy of Buffalo. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he took classes through the G.I. Bill of Rights at the Art Institute of Buffalo and the Art Students League in NYC. The Burchfield Penney Art Center exhibited his work in An Alternative Course: The Art Institute of Buffalo in 2006 and as a solo show in A Life in the Arts in 2007.