Here is my current stacks of research books – poetry for help in titling new works and to seek a text for a current book project; theory and history on color, Japanese Moku Hanga, obsessions on space for a paper and presentation on “Becoming Bokashi”; books of source imagery for new drawings and prints with motifs of corals, water, patterns; books of some favorite artists, compilations and historical figures that I keep around, including known and those far flung unknowns.
I have not read very thoroughly most of my books, though I love books, and have a wide collection including a stack of “to be read” books. I tend to skim and somehow the information I need and seek is embedded. I know of important information that has meant something to me and that I return to when needed, yet I do not have the kind of memory that can recite quotes from what I have read........that is an ability I wish I had, and admire in others. My memory is impressionistic and broad.
I know my book collection, and have a mental map of where a particular book is located on my shelves at home, school, studio, so I can usually head right to it in my eclectic disorder. The book and content is impressed in my memory by its color, design, scale, even the location of certain illustrations. I can attest to the experience of randomly searching through books and finding the most amazing bit of deep information and inspiration to fit into my puzzle of the moment. That is why my own library is so valuable and significant.
bio: In her prints and artist books, Karen Kunc explores inventive color abstractions of the natural and human-fashioned world, creating visual impact, tensions, and ideas of strange beauty.
Kunc is a Nebraska based artist who also works in New York, Italy, Colorado, and Helsinki. Her prints and artist books have been shown recently in solo exhibitions at: The Huntington Museum of Art; The Bemis Center for Contemporary Art; The Leedy Voulkos Art Center, Kansas City; Piano Nobile Gallery, Krakow, Poland; Salo Art Museum, Finland; Minia University, Egypt; Galerie d'Art Contemporain, Chamalières, France; Davidson Galleries, Seattle. Her work has been included in numerous important group exhibitions, including: The Abstract Impulse, National Academy Museum, New York; 5th International Triennial of Graphic Art 2007, Prague, Czech Republic; 2nd Bangkok Triennale; Blocks of Color: A Century of American Woodcuts, Zimmerli Art Museum; Book as Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC; Sublime Present, Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan. Kunc's works are represented in many public and private collections, including: the Museum of Modern Art; the Library of Congress; the Smithsonian American Art Museum; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha; Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas; Honolulu Academy of Art; Worcester Art Museum; Walker Art Center Library; Salo Art Museum, Finland; Milwaukee Art Museum; Hyndai Art Center Gallery, Korea.
Karen Kunc was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1952. She received her BFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1975, and her MFA from Ohio State University in 1977. She is a Cather Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she has taught since 1983. Her recognitions include: the 2007 Printmaker Emeritus Award from the Southern Graphics Council International; a Fulbright Scholar Award to Finland; 2 Mid-America Arts Alliance/National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships; Nebraska Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship Master Award; Individual Artist Fellowship, Ohio Arts Council. She has taught numerous workshops around the world and served as a visiting artist to over 100 institutions. She has curated exhibitions of American art for Finland, France, Egypt, and frequently serves as a juror for national competitions.
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