Karen Kunc

© Karen Kunc

Los grabados y libros de artista de Karen Kunc surgen de la contemplación de las fuerzas naturales del mundo. Sus trabajos sugieren los encuentros efímeros y la inmensidad del tiempo y la distancia. Su estilo único de grabado pone estas ideas en imágenes icónicas de creación, preservación y alusiones a las metáforas y mitos humanos. Sus grabados recuerdan el proceso de destrucción y creación inherente a la xilografía, y como artista tiene un rol omnisciente evolución y en la elección de evolución y avance del proceso hacia la resolución de sus imágenes.

Karen Kunc nació en Omaha, Nebraska. Se graduó de la Universidad de Nebraska-Lincoln donde enseñó hasta 1983. Ella enseñó previamente en la Escuela Superior de Arte y Diseño de Columbus.

Karen Kunc - Traducción Cecile Bouscayrol

© Karen Kunc

Karen Kunc’s prints and artists books stem from her contemplation of the forces of the natural world. Her works suggest ephemeral encounters and the immeasurability of time and distance. Her unique style of printing puts these notions into iconic images of creation, preservation, and allusions to human myth and metaphor. Her prints record the process of destruction and creation inherent in reduction woodcut, and as an artist she takes on an omniscient role as evolutionary choices and process move toward the resolution of her images.

Karen Kunc was born in Omaha, Nebraska. She received her BFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and her MFA from Ohio State University. She is currently the Willa Cather Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln where she has taught since 1983. She previously taught at the Columbus College of Art and Design.

Karen Kunc’s work has been seen extensively in EXHIBITIONS in the US, Europe and Asia, including:

• Mokuhan Zomeki/What Happened in Japan? Curated International Exhibition, University of the Arts Museum, Tokyo, Japan
• An Exhibition of Excellence: Four Great Artists: Kunc (USA), Denysenko (Ukraine), Bongibault (France), Ciuha (Slovenie), L’Estampille Gallery, 9^th Triennale, Chamalieres, France
• 8^th Biennale Internationale de’estampe Contemporaine de Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada, 2013
• The Annual: 2012, National Academy Museum, New York
• Mokuhanga Innovative, Art Forum Jarfo, Kyoto, Japan, 2011
• ColorPrint USA 40^th Anniversary Exhibition, Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, 2010
• 2^nd Bangkok Triennale International Print and Drawing Exhibition, Bangkok Art and Culture Center, Thailand, 2009
• Boston Printmakers 2009 North American Print Biennial, Gallery 808, Boston, MA
• International Print Triennial-Krakow, Contemporary Art Gallery “Bunkier Sztuki”, Krakow, Poland, 2009
• Blocks of Color: A Century of American Woodcuts, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 2009
• Print Invitational, 30^th Anniversary of the Graphic Workshop, Jyväskylä Art Museum, Finland,, 2008
• The Art of the Book ’08, Craft Gallery, Ontario Crafts Council, Toronto, Canada and international tour
• IMPRINT 2008, Clashes Between Civilizations, Kulisiewicz International Graphic Arts Triennial, Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw, Poland

Her prints and artist books have been shown in SOLO EXHIBITIONS at:

• Gallery 101, Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, 2013
• Alexandre Hogue Art Gallery, University of Tulsa, OK, 2012
• Beard Gallery, Wheaton College, Norton, MA, 2010
• Art Zone Gallery, Cairo, Egypt, 2010
• Kaiku Gallery, Finnish Academy of Fine Art, Helsinki, 2009
• Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA, 2009
• Fairbanks Gallery, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 2009
• Ruffin Gallery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 2008
• Malaspina Printmakers Society Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2008
• Emily B. Davis Gallery, University of Akron, Ohio, 2008
• Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, Kansas City, Missouri, 2007
• Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, Nebraska, 2007
• Atrium Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri, 2007
• Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, West Virginia, 2007
• Galerie d'Art Contemporain, Chamalières, France, 2006
• Salo Art Museum, Salo, Finland, 2006

Kunc’s work is represented in COLLECTIONS worldwide, including:

The Museum of Modern Art; the National Art Library of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, Tokyo, Japan; Boston Public Library; Cleveland Museum of Art; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University; Hafnarborg Institute of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnarfjordur, Iceland; Honolulu Academy of Art; Hyndai Art Center Gallery, Ulsan, Korea; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Milwaukee Art Museum; American Art Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland; Rhode Island School of Design, Library, Provincetown; Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, Special Collections; Walker Art Center Library Collection, Minneapolis; and Omaha Steaks.

Among Kunc’s many AWARDS are two Fulbright Fellowships to Finland (1996, 2009), and a Fulbright Specialist grant to Dhaka, Bangladesh (2013); two Mid America Arts Alliance/National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships (1996, 1984); and the 2007 Southern Graphics Council Printmaker Emeritus Award. She has been an artist in resident at Nagasawa Art Park, Japan; Virginia Center for Creative Arts; Oregon College of Art and Craft; Anderson Ranch Art Center, Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop New York; Venice Printmaking Studio, Italy. She has also served as a visiting artist to over 100 institutions and schools.

Cécile Bouscayrol © Karen Kunc, 9^ème Mundial de la Estampa, Chamalières, Francia

Her CURATORIAL PROJECTS have ranged from:

• Delegate for selection of American participants to the 9th Triennale Mondiale de L'Estampe et de la Gravure Originale, Chamalieres, France, 2014
• Continuity/Kontinuita: Prints from Czech/Slovak American & International Artists, Rotunda Gallery, Nebraska Union, UNL, Lincoln, 2010
• Meeting the Other: American and Egyptian Prints, USA and Egypt tour 2009 - 2010
• Open Expression: Contemporary American Printmaking Art, American University in Cairo, Egypt, 2005
• Mirror of the Wood: A Century of the Woodcut Print in Finland, USA and Finland tour, 2004 - 2005
• The Liquid Language of Artists Books, University of Wyoming, Laramie, 2002
• Between Nature and Culture: American Prints for the Jyväskylä Art Museum, Finland, and Kutná Hora, Czech Republic, 1998-1999
• Polish Prints: A Contemporary Graphic Tradition Exhibition, USA tour 1988-89.

© Karen Kunc 2010 Verse from Macrocosmica - Woodcut 73x61cm

Her written articles for PUBLICATION have appeared in:

A Survey of Contemporary Printmaking, catalogue, edited by Egan, Ehlbeck, Muise

Grapheion, the International review of modern prints, books and paper Art, Czech Republic

The Journal of the Mid-America Print Council

The California Printmaker, Journal of the California Society of Printmakers

Graphic Impressions, The Southern Graphics Council Newsletter

Contemporary Impressions, Journal of the American Print Alliance

Sightlines: Printmaking and Image Culture, the University of Alberta Press.

She was the Director for the Mid-America Print Council Conference "Printmaking Relevance/Resonance", held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2004.

She is Chairman of the international organizing committee for the 2nd International Mokuhanga Conference, held in 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.

Kunc has opened Constellation Studios as a creative destination for print, paper and book arts in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 2014.

Renowned printmaker Karen Kunc visits Oregon State University © OSU Department of Art

UNL print professor Karen Kunc invites Kiechel Fine Art © into her studio to describe her woodblock process.