Ioan Chisu was born in Cluj-Napoca, Romania on January 28th, 1939. He immigrated to the United States in 1988 along with his wife, the painter Rodica Chisu and family. He holds a Master in Painting from the Ion Andreescu Fine Arts Institute in Cluj-Napoca, 1963. He was the President of the Union of Artists of Sibiu County, Romania, from 1968-1970 and 1980-1989, and a member of the Leadership Fine Arts Union of Romania from 1980 to 1989.
One-person shows include the Sirius Gallery, Sibiu Romania from 1966-1967, the Apollo Gallery in 1970, and the Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, 1973.
Group shows include the Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, 1964, 67, 68-70, 72, 88, the Simu Museum in Bucharest, Romania, 1965, Big Gallery, Cluj-Napoca, 1973, and the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Alaska from 1997-98.
Mr. Chisu has designed several monumental mosaics: Tradition and Contemporary Times in Blaj, completed in 1973, the Homage to Human Creativity in Resita, completed in 1980, and Archways in Sibiu in 1981.
Chisu is the recipient of the National Order of Cultural Merit for Artistic merits, Bucharest, in 1968. He holds the National Prize for Romania at the 3rd International Festival of Painting, Cagnes-sur-Mer, France in 1971, the 1st Prize for Painting at the National Festival of Art in Bucharest, 1985 and 1987, and the Grant Award Community Arts Assistance Program from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Arts in 1993 and 1995.
Ioan Chisu can be reached at his studio by phone: 815-385-5789, or by email: ichisu2003@yahoo.com.
