textual

Glass

Vignette: KCJ Szwedzinski

“Every time a story is retold it takes on a new life…” - KCJ Szwedzinski

"Hidden Histories I" by KCJ Szwedzinski, mixed media, 51x48x34in, 2017, POR

"Hidden Histories I" by KCJ Szwedzinski, mixed media, 51x48x34in, 2017, POR

Storytelling is the root of history. It's how we transmit the lessons of the past, either in oral or written narrative, and therefore how we learn about ourselves. And, of course, the first “written” stories were visual: pictographs on cave walls that carried the burden of documenting entire communities through cycles.

KCJ Szwedzinski’s work concerns itself with unorthodox realizations of narrative. Much of it uses textual elements functioning more as graphic motifs as explicit linguistic communication. In fact, it is often unreadable; transparent pages layered together to obscure all meaning, as in “hidden Histories II”, or positioned at the ends of an hourglass as in ”A Measure of Time”. And if the cut out, cursive text in “An Absence That Suggests A Significant Presence” is technically legible, our desire to read it is distracted by the play of light and shadow that the artist calls into existence with the folded-page format. Even more startling is how we are forced to ponder the question of why the enigmatic “Hidden Histories I” sculpture mysteriously places four dinner settings on the underside of the table.

"Hidden Histories II" by KCJ Szwedzinski, glass, wood, metal 54x20x8in, 2017, POR

"Hidden Histories II" by KCJ Szwedzinski, glass, wood, metal 54x20x8in, 2017, POR

“Narration, ritual, and object are each mechanisms for the transmission of memory,” Szwedzinski tells us. “As time passes, these stories and carriers of meaning become shadowed with the recollections of others and become imbued with added social, familial, political, and moral values not originally present. Every time a story is retold it takes on a new life, simultaneously preventing that information from being lost to history while slowly transforming into something new altogether. These mechanisms for transmission slowly shape collective memory across time and ultimately have a huge hand in shaping personal identity. My work reflects on the shifting nature of narrative across time and considers the intersection of art, ethics, and atrocity.”

Szwedzinski has work in a show at OPEN Community Art Center, with a closing reception on January 26 from 6-9 pm. She also has have work in an exhibition at the Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens Ohio, OH + 5 '18: Ohio Border Biennial, which runs through March 17th. She was recently included in The Flow Magazine's Winter 2017 edition of the 13th annual Gallery of Women in Glass.

Szwedzinki exhibited frequently during 2017:

  • Descent: A Collaborative Book Project, University of Louisville, KY
  • Artists in Our Midst, Kaviar Forge Gallery, Louisville, KY (Juried)
  • Glass Show, Gallery 104, La Grange, KY (Juried)
  • Relative Perspective, Gallery K, Louisville, KY (Two person exhibition)
  • Terminus: Portfolio Exchange, SGCI Archives, Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA (Juried)
  • Student Exhibition, Schneider Galleries, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY (Juried)
  • Apocalypse: A Collaborative Book Project, University of Louisville, KY 
hot shop head shot (1).jpg

Hometown: Jacksonville Florida
Education: MFA candidate. University of Louisville, Louisville, KY (expected May 2019):
BA cum laude, Art History and Printmaking, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL, 2009
Website: www.kcjszwedzinski.com

Scroll down for more images

"An Absence That Suggests a Significant Presence" by KCJ Szwedzinski, book, 11x7in, 2017. POR

"An Absence That Suggests a Significant Presence" by KCJ Szwedzinski, book, 11x7in, 2017. POR

"An Excerpt From a Year in Treblinka" by KCJ Szwedzinski, 7x5in, 2017, POR

"An Excerpt From a Year in Treblinka" by KCJ Szwedzinski, 7x5in, 2017, POR

"A Measure of Time" by KCJ Szwedzinski, blown and sheet glass, stone granules, 10x6in, 2017, POR

"A Measure of Time" by KCJ Szwedzinski, blown and sheet glass, stone granules, 10x6in, 2017, POR

"That Which Comes Unbidden" by KCJ Szwedzinski, mixed media, dimensions variable, 2017, POR

"That Which Comes Unbidden" by KCJ Szwedzinski, mixed media, dimensions variable, 2017, POR


Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2017 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved

Are you interested in being on Artebella? Click here to learn more.

Photography

Vignette: Brett Sutton


“The natural world is truly remarkable and we are an intimate part of this environment.” — Brett Sutton


"Neighborhood Runoff" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2016), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

"Neighborhood Runoff" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2016), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

Photographer, Brett Sutton

Photographer, Brett Sutton

Even a casual study of these photographs from Brett Sutton reveal the common thread of patterns in nature. The black & white images of the city illustrate humankind’s imprint of construction on the urban landscape, the latticework reinforcement of a fire escape and the shadows cast by the late afternoon sun. Sutton crops the main support of the structure out of frame, lending it an unexpected tension.

“While working at Luna Lodge, an eco-lodge retreat on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, I was granted the opportunity to truly connect with the landscape, flora and fauna. The natural world is truly remarkable and we are an intimate part of this environment.”

Sutton’s images of the natural world share that same fascination with pattern, but the color places a greater emphasis on texture, and there is a more epic sense of composition in many of the pictures. He also seeks out unique vantage points; as he explains: “(they can be) hugely important when considering how one connects to and interprets reality, location, and relationship.” He achieves some mystery through abstraction, just as he cropped the fire escape, we here see two runners moving across a mercurial landscape that we can’t quite place, a scene bisected by an indefinable graphic element that visually appears to stop the joggers in their tracks.

"Costa Rican Leaf Cutter Ants" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

"Costa Rican Leaf Cutter Ants" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

“Not only is my zest for life and vitality enhanced through my creative pursuits but to my connections with others…location, and the environment as well. Whether working in film or digital photography, oil paint, or collages of the bark of decaying trees, I attempt to deliver messages of local-ism, connection to the land, and textural nuance.”

Hometown: Covington, Kentucky
Age: 29
Education: BA, History & Fine Arts from Xavier University (Cincinnati)
Website: https://brettmsutton.wordpress.com

"White Sands National Monument" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

"White Sands National Monument" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

"Fire Escape" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

"Fire Escape" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

"Central Bridge: Newport, Kentucky" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

"Central Bridge: Newport, Kentucky" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2017 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

Are you interested in being on Artebella? Click here to learn more.

Are you interested in being on Artebella? Click here to learn more.