About Us
MANAGEMENT TEAM
Valentine Svihalek
Founder & Director
Andrea Ehret
Prague Projects Co-Lead
Klara Siska
Brno Projects Co-Lead
Together We Rise
Art Connect Society facilitates connection, education, and collaboration among Czech-based visual and performing artists and the international community of artists who are also women, mothers, and caregivers. We connect communities through engagement with contemporary art, providing turnkey tools that support uplifting incremental change. In keeping with our mission, we also collaborate with Rosa Centrum For Women through fundraising and advocacy for their efforts to support women victims of domestic violence.
Relax, I've Got You
FOUNDER & DIRECTOR
Valentine Svihalek
(Visionary, Projects Lead, Media)
"In humanity's imperfection lies so much beauty and triumph that deserves to be celebrated."
Valentine is a Belgian and American visual artist, international educator, and founder & director of Art Connect Society.
After the birth of her first child in a Czech village surrounded by people who spoke a different language, she felt isolated. Supported by the Artist Residency In Motherhood Program, she developed a process of artmaking that liberates expressive energy and establishes connection.
Graduate studies in philosophy and postgraduate studies in teaching, literacy, and culture in San Diego and mentorship with American Multimedia Artist, Isadora Stowe provided the foundation for her work.
Passionate about education and connecting people with opportunities, Valentine founded the Art Connect Society & Women’s Collective.
Inspired by her community work, she published Mama Meditations: The Imperfect Artist Mother Journey and The Bright Side: Affirmations For Overcoming as reflections on postpartum experience. In 2024, she published Safe Spaces: The Rights Of Women Through Their Words, Work & Creativity about the roots of the community, their projects and goals.
She founded the Bella Valentina Artist Residency Program, bringing together visual and performing artists in the Czech countryside.
She exhibits widely in galleries & cafes in Europe, including Jewish Museum Prague and CA Gallery Bratislava. She’s been featured in International Art Magazines and podcasts including Colour Me Happy & The Teaching Artist. She hosts the Art Sisters Podcast. In 2022, she was longlisted for Women United Art Prize.
She’s collected internationally and is a professional member of Spilt Milk, AQ Society, ARIM, CREATE, VA Gallery.
MANAGEMENT TEAM MEMBER
Klara Siska
(Safe Spaces Brno Co-Lead, Marketing)
Painter, Printmaker, Performer, Textile Artist, Graphic Designer
Klara graduated from SUPŠ in Uherské Hradiště in Studio Art, Painting. She continued studying art at FaVU in Brno, in the Performance studio. She lives and works in Brno and is dedicated to painting, spatial installations and performance. Using various means to examine the point from which the creation originates and what changes it can leave in the space or in the feelings of the participants. She co-founded the Brno Tiskne project, a space for experiments in screen printing and a place to guide others to their own creativity. She founded the Niterné project , where together they look for ways to connect with ourselves through art and with creativity based on inner motivation.
MANAGEMENT TEAM MEMBER
Andrea Ehret
(Safe Spaces Prague Co-Lead, Special Projects)
Artist & Art Therapist
Andrea's ethereal paintings draw on her studies of Art and Art Therapy practice, using intuition, expression and gesture as tools for self-transformation. Each of Ehret's paintings follows the flow of energetic light and shade to create a balanced, harmonious, meditative whole. In this way Ehret considers the act of painting to be a healing process. Her intuitive approach is influenced by Eastern philosophy. Ehret considers each painting an expression of an inner world – a meditative process in which the paint is layered with her own internal charges depicting her emotions and feelings. These conflicting emotions coalesce in painterly abstract creating cosmic dreamscapes. Each painting offering a dream-like experience. Andrea Ehret studied at Prešovská Univerzita in Slovakia and Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, in the Czech Republic. She has been included in numerous exhibitions in US, NYC, UK, London, Sweden, The Netherlands, Germany, Prague and Italy and collected heavily internationally. Ehret has also been the recipient of awards including The Red Dot Miami Award , GlobalArt Awards Tokyo, Caravaggio International Prize Master of Art, Milan , etc. Also in 2021 & 2022 she was selected as an artist-in-residence at Chateau d'Orquevaux, France as part of the Denis Diderot Grant Award.
KEY MEMBER
Kristína Kadáková
Art Manager, Curator
Curator and guide to the world of art at the Dudes and Barbies gallery in Prague. What does art mean to me? For me, art is a language of expression that helps me understand my emotions and discover myself. For me, every painting, every work of art is a story and an inspiration for a deeper understanding of the world. My mission is simple: to show the world the beauty of art and help others achieve their dreams.
KEY MEMBER
Hana Nemeckova
Photographer
Hana is a Czech artist who started to take photography more seriously while studying at the Secondary School of Arts, studying applied photography. Her interest in photography also led her to study at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno, majoring in Body Design which provided a new point of view for the work.
KEY MEMBER
Kristi Lei
(Tech Support)
Singer, Songwriter, Music Educator
Kristi is an American singer-songwriter living in Brno, Czech Republic. She specializes in pop-folk music with influences from Joni Mitchell, Sara Bareilles, and Taylor Swift. Kristi has performed throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania and central North Carolina, frequently accompanied by her two younger sisters, and has appeared at folk festivals, radio shows, wineries, and private events. Kristi was deeply involved in the folk music community at the University of North Carolina, where she led an all-women a capella group. She teaches singing lessons and music production. Her EP album, Becoming Memories focuses on authentic lyricism and personal identity through acoustic music.
KEY MEMBER
Laura Hanganu
Abstract Painter
Laura is a self-taught abstract painter using the power of the colors found in nature to put her soul on canvas. Born in Romania, she grew up in the heart of Rome which is still a great inspiration for her. Currently living in Brno, a multicultural city of Czech Republic where she participated in numerous exhibitions. Feelings and emotions expressed through color and its variation, the landscapes are the box containing it all.
Collaborators & Partners
