Meet Carole P. Kunstadt
"Transformation, contemplation and gratitude are my essential inspirations in Sacred Poem Series. I am exploring idea/intent as well as the materials in my work. I am striving to extract simplicity from complexity. "
Tell us your artist story, some biographical info, when did you decide to be an artist? Why do you make art? Where did you study? Etc.
Born in Boston, with a childhood in Sharon MA, i had after-school art lessons with the town art teacher who lived in an intriguing Revolutionary era house just up the road. She encouraged each individual's unique eye and the freedom to explore early in my development. I received a BFA, from Hartford Art School, Hartford, CT and continued with postgraduate studies at the Akademie der Bildenen Künste, Munich, Germany. Six years ago I re-entered a familiar landscape as in my youth, moving to the Hudson Valley, having lived for 35 years in NYC.
What do you want people to walk away with after experiencing your work?
My devotion to books is inspired by the ability of the written word to take the reader to other places through stories, poems, and prayers. Through the exploration and manipulation of the materials the process reveals how language can become visual through re-interpretation. A long held thought that influences my works on/of paper is: Evidence in the tactile provides contrast of the ethereal. How do I as an artist present the spiritual and unutterable concepts while in this physical plane. My work is intimate in scale and sentiment, requiring the viewer to be sensitive and contemplative. I like the notion of one having to slow down in order to fully appreciate the work. The subtleties and the detail draws the eye close. Transformation, contemplation and gratitude are my essential inspirations in Sacred Poem Series. I am exploring idea/intent as well as the materials in my work. I am striving to extract simplicity from complexity.
What influences your work? Why?
The Sacred Poems series, is an exploration generated by the materials: two editions of an antique Parish Psalmody, dated 1844 and 1849. As an art student and in my first years as a freelance artist I was a calligrapher, and have always been fascinated by language, text and illuminations. I purchased the first volume in 2000 from a used-book seller in Vermont without any specific idea in mind. In 2006 I used the paper as the ground for a collage. But to my surprise I was enticed and captivated by the responsiveness of the paper: the inherently facile, tactile, tender yet pliable pages. Soon I was transforming them in unexpected ways - layering pages with the lines of text sewn through; weaving strips cut from the pages, fascinated by the random patterns created by the letters and gilding them. It had been over 25 years since I had been involved in tapestry weaving. The process was truly satisfying: to find previous skills resurfacing unexpectedly and from a different orientation. I also discovered that the book is a container storing the history and energies it has absorbed over time. The casual purchase of a book ultimately changed my creative path. The series has grown to over 100 unique works evoking an ecumenical offering: poems of praise and gratitude.
exhibition?
I am interested in sanctity and the metaphysical not only in this series but also in other recent work.which reorders and redefines materials in order to get to their very essence.
I welcome and appreciate the focus on the spiritual and the metaphysical quality of contemplation and timelessness. In God We Trust offers a counterpoint to the mundane and the chaotic.
In 2002 I exhibited in Hera Gallery's The Mark with three works from my Markings Series early on in its inception, and which I am continuing to explore currently.
It was an exciting presentation of intriguing works which encouraged me to focus on mark making.
Sacred Poem CII, gold leaf, linen thread, paper: Parish Psalmody dated 1849, 4 x 4 x 4 in, 2016
To see more of Carole's work, visit her website: http://carolekunstadt.com/portfolio.php
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