ABOUT

Andonia Giannakouros (b. 1985) is a figurative painter based in Dubuque, Iowa. Her work honors the slow, imperfect beauty of handmade patterns—passed down, stitched, carved, and woven through generations of artisans in her family. She draws from folk traditions where embroidery, weaving, and painting serve as vessels of memory, shared language, and symbolic inheritance. Giannakouros’ visual vocabulary is shaped by early travels to Greece and the repeated forms of European streets—where posters layered on walls and tiled surfaces create rhythms that insist on attention. In her practice, repetition becomes a method of emphasis and a structure of persistence. Through layered compositions, she explores how stories and symbols are communicated across time and space, using pattern as both structure and language.

Working primarily in oil and wax on canvas and panel, Giannakouros builds surfaces with bright color, handmade patterns, and recurring symbols to tell stories about connection, constraint, and relational dynamics. Her paintings often examine how visual and cultural languages shape expression, with particular attention to the outliers and the consequences of straying outside of defined boundaries. Over the past two decades, her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows across Iowa, Minnesota, Tennessee, Illinois, and Arkansas, and is included in both private collections and the permanent collection of the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. Her solo exhibition at the Dubuque Museum of Art opened in 2022. In 2023, she received a Creative Empowerment Subgrant from the National Endowment for the Arts (ARPA), administered by the City of Dubuque’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, for her exhibition project GRID: 100 Mini Paintings, which debuted in September 2024.

Giannakouros works from a public studio in downtown Dubuque, open by appointment—or whenever the light is on.

Collections

National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium

Private Collections in the U.S.