Kate Rusek

BIO

Kate Rusek’s research, writing, and artwork examines the connective edges and dissonant intersections between humanity, material culture, and the natural world. Influenced by complex organic architectures, man-made environmental catastrophes, and eco-social systems, Kate assembles highly tactile sculptures, textile, and installation with an emphasis on Craft and materiality. Rusek received two B.F.As from The University of Miami and an M.A from SCAD. Rusek has been awarded residencies at Archie Bray, The Hambidge Center for the Arts, GoggleWorks, Vermont Studio Center and Western Montana Open AIR. She is the recipient of The 2023 Devra Freelander Fellowship at Socrates Sculpture Park and a Windgate Distinguished Fellowship for Innovation in Craft.

Select exhibitions include Trotter and Sholer, Spring Break Art Fair, Socrates Sculpture Park, Mizuma, Kips, and Wada, Studio Archive, Geheim Gallery, Governors Island Art Fair, and the Gallery of Visual Arts at The University of Montana.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I create maximalist biophilic forms, combining valuable and value-less materials through a lens of ‘naturalness’, and an interrogation of deep time. My practice is a means to examine climate grief, ecological collapse, loss, and heartbreak through a lens of organic abundance. My work is an action to reshape anthropogenic ruin into an act of eco-future making. Deliberately motivated by hand wrought treatments and intricate technical processes, a laborious care ethic is centered to reveal intentionality of the human hand. The complexity of natural structures, systems, and interactions, foundation connection as both physical means and conceptual backbone to the work. Vacillation between order and chaos informs my process akin to a dynamic ecosystem vitality. Building complexity by integrating both process and desire into a single form allows the work to comment on the ambiguity of creation and destruction. Techniques that build texture rich organic patterns make visible, energetic labor, ever present but overlooked all around us.

Interview with Kate Rusek

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you became interested in becoming an artist? 

I was a quietly inquisitive child and my personality has always lent itself to detailed observation of the world around me. In my case, that meant a quiet upbringing in a small town that allowed my imagination to flourish. I spent long sprawling days exploring creeks and the gardens in my back yard, fascinated by small worlds, I found at every turn. As the child of teacher and an engineer, my curiosities were encouraged even when not fully understood. This was a gift. I was encouraged to and delighted by taking things apart, only to put them back together and try my tiny hands at mending and fixing. The realization, even in this small way that I could build the world around me was transfixing. I later chose to study sculpture and theatrical costume design due to my desires to communicate through object, narrative, and the body. I found a home in this language of expression.   

Where are you currently based and what brought you there? Are there any aspects of this specific location or community that have inspired your work? 

I landed in New York City, by way of Miami, nearly fifteen years ago. I was encouraged to pursue a life in New York to work in the theatrical costume industry alongside my fine art practice. The dual nature of my creative streams has brought tremendous cross over into my studio practice. Additionally, New York has felt like a good home base to jump out to wild natural places that are the inspiration for most all of my work, while still in community with other artists and exhibitions on a really regular basis. All that said, the winds of change are blowing me West more permanently at the moment, as I have near future plans to swap home base to the Pacific Northwest. I have been spending more and more time traveling to make my work as my disposition and aspiration for my work and career have grown and changed. 

What is your studio space like? What makes your space unique to you? 

My studio is very multifaceted. I work in a variety of skills, sculptural mediums, and techniques, many of which require specialized tools and works stations. I sew, do woodworking, make molds, paint, have a pretty specific language of hardware assembly, and do ceramics. This often means the studio makes some pretty dramatic infrastructure shifts based on the phase of the project I am into. This adaptability has made it an easier to pack up what I need to take on visiting artist opportunities and residencies, both of which have become a big part of my life in the last few years.   

What gets you in a creative groove or flow? Is there anything that interrupts your creative energy? 

I really need to get out of the studio to go deep in the work. I have learned that my best work can’t be forced, which is sometimes very hard to accept as a productivity junkie. I need to do things like meditate, take long drive and hikes, and swim, to stimulate a lot of the ideas I bring to the work. I am also cultivating a rest practice recently that has helped my expand the depths of visualizing my sculpture and even the detailed processes I can foresee needed to get from idea to reality. Without this connection to my body/heart/mind, the work can get stuck at unexpected junctures. 

How do you maintain momentum in your practice? Is there anything that hinders or helps your focus? 

I maintain my momentum by actively seeking delight in the processes of making. There are times when I need to do the mental, conceptual, and research based “heavy lifting” to make my work. But, there are also times when I need to make without judgment, allowing physical, intuitive expressions to flow out of me as another source of truth and learning. Listening to my internal barometer is the key for me to keep the work moving. Also, there is often a time in making a specific work or a body of work where the ‘right’ answers reveal themselves. Listening for hints, when the work kind of tells you what it needs is an atunement I continue to grow.

What medium/media are you working in right now? What draws you to this particular material or method? 

I am just about to begin another few months deeply focused on ceramics. This medium, to which I am somewhat new, has really reshaped the way I think about my whole practice. I spent the better part of a decade as a material responsive sculptor, utilizing a lot of found objects and textile mediums, looking for novel forms while in conversation with the materials themself. It is a process of revelation, coaxing new meaning from the mundane. The plasticity of working in clay expands this process of discovery, exponentially. Some significant former constraints of my workflows have been lifted only to be replaced by the seemingly infinite capabilities of clay and glaze. This abundant outlook is so energizing. 

What is exciting about your process currently?

I have been writing more in the last few years than anytime in my career. Nonjudgmental writing, stream of consciousness examination of thoughts and feelings, and reexamining interactions and ideas about the work. These psychological reflections have helped me learn more about the work I am making and pushes me to pursue with curiosity upcoming projects that dive deeper into the specificity of self to better connect with the world

Can you talk about some of the ongoing interests, imagery, and concepts that have informed your process and body of work over time? How do you anticipate your work progressing in the future? 

I continue to push my porcelain sculptures into the realm of the biophilic, this wiggly sweet spot combining the manufactured, the organic, and the human hand. My reverence grows for non-human species that persist on our planet and created the conditions suitable for life to flourish on Earth. These are not ancient processes. Our planet is so tremendously alive and connected that it is sometimes hard to fathom. The realm of small marine creatures, microscopic systems of organism, human connectivity, collective awe and grief practices, are just a few of the ideas and realms of thought and research that coaless into my work.

Have you had any epiphanies recently that have changed the course of your work or caused you to shift directions? 

I think I am getting smarter in the way I use my clay processes. It takes tremendous planning to get from raw material to my finished work. The last year has helped me streamline and expand the language I am building in porcelain. I continue to fail and learn, fail and learn, and inch ever closer to my aspirations.   

Do you have any tips or advice that someone has shared with you that you have found particularly helpful? 

The words of my undergraduate mentor continue to ring in my ear, all these years later. She simply said, make your work. And keep making your work. What that will look like will change, inevitably, over the years but the point is to keep going. Its called a practice for a reason. 

What are you working on in the studio right now? What’s coming up next for you?

I am working on a new body of work that combines textile, high ornamentation, and ceramic for a two separate solo shows in 2024. They are happening in quiet close succession so I am thinking of the body of work as one really big series and it remains to be seen how the cards fall in curation. I look forward to learning about the work as I pursue the seeds of ideas I have to begin creation. Meaning will emerge and grow as I develop these two separate presentations. For the next few months, my task is to follow my intuition and incubate the new work, giving it time to show itself. 

To find out more about Kate Rusek check out their website and Instagram.