Pavlo Lopata was born in Kalinov [Presov region], Slovak Republic on March 20, 1945. He studied at the University of Fine Arts Bratislava from 1966-1968. In 1969 he emigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto. He obtained a Commercial Arts Diploma from George Brown College [1972] and a Fine Arts Diploma from the Ontario College of Art [1986]. From 1991 to 1998 he was curator and executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation [KUMF Gallery]. During this period he organized over 70 exhibits of many different artists from Canada, USA and Ukraine.
In his artistic endeavours he has mastered the use of pencil, egg tempera, acrylics and oils. Many themes are visible in his works, such as, portraits, wooden churches, icons, linear expressionism and surrealistic symbolism. Pavlo is also a prolific author of over 450 articles related to the arts, culture and history, published in periodicals, journals and newspapers.
To date, over 1,000 of his artistic works can be found in private and museum collections in Canada, USA, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Ukraine. He has held 33 solo exhibits and participated in over 90 group shows. He presently lives and works in his private studio gallery in Kingsville, Ontario, the southernmost municipality in Canada.
