Polish artist is a female (6)
I believe the answer is:
sandra
'female' is the definition.
(woman's name)
'polish artist' is the wordplay.
'polish' becomes 'sand' (to polish or sand down).
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'sand'+'ra'='SANDRA'
'is a' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for sandra that I've seen before include "Girl's name" , "woman's name" , "So woman" , "girl" .)