Bio: Katherine Chwazik is a mixed media artist, curator, and art educator living and working in New York’s Capital Region. She studied art and art education at The College of Saint Rose, created Smallbany Gallery, and tries to teach middle schoolers that anyone can be an artist.

Artist Statement: My work is about place and time. I layer views of the same place at different points in time – such as areas of Albany heavily changed by the Plaza’s construction.

I combine printmaking, drawing, and sculpture to construct spaces that reference local architecture. I use on-site sketches as well as historical photos to weave time and space, and in some cases I interview former or current residents. By merging printmaking and sculptural processes I am able to explore and mirror the changes of a city – by both carving away and building up. Because experiences of places are seldom simple or linear, I layer imagery in a way that reflects the conflicting feelings we have about places – whether about the past and present impact of the Plaza on Albany, or whether about beautiful Antarctic ice and the contrasting global implications as explored in recent work. I think about what is lost to time, what survives or has become, and what might yet be.

Website: www.katherinechwazik.com

Social Media: @kchwaz