Tim Kowalczyk
BEST OF SHOW:
September 2010 Anniversary Exhibition
Tim Kowalczyk: inescapable
Out of the many artists who submit for the show, our guest juror, Hennie Reynders has selected five Honorable Mentions and one Best of Show. Best of Show artists will be awarded: Free two week Solo Show in Water Street Studios 2nd floor gallery, valued at $200.
We are also pleased to announce that audio brographies are
available for free download as well as two players in the gallery
for visitors to incorporate into their visit.
Click here for a full sensory experience: coming
soon
September 2010 Anniversary
Exhibition Best of Show:
Tim Kowalczyk: inescapable
Medium: Ceramic
Website: www.timkowalczyk.blogspot.com
Artists Statement:
Box making has been in my family for
two generations. I was the first to deviate from that path only to
come back to my lineage later in a different vocation. I worked in
a warehouse where I saw pristine boxes and mangled boxes waiting to
be presented as an art object. These objects became a starting
point for my work in trompe l'oeil. Where others saw a banal
mundane material, I saw beauty. Following in the footsteps of the
generations before me I too became a box maker. As I manufactured
boxes of my own I thought about the manner in which people use
cardboard boxes.
Though the use of the mundane I hope to express the notion of
storage through the cardboard box. The use of the cardboard box is
a universal image meant to reflect the idea of storage and memory.
Through a visual language of rips, tears, folds, bends and stains I
intend the box to convey the idea of age and wear but also speak
about the contents. Objects on the inside or the outside of the box
reference memories or the inaccessibility of the memories to the
owner and to viewers.
The fabrication of the mundane creates the need for investigation
and a creation of dialogue in between objects. This creation of
dialogue also asks the question why cardboard? Until the viewer
investigates the work it remains to be cardboard and not a
fabricated representation of cardboard. The representation then
elevates the mundane into the spot light of art. As Jasper Johns
transformed bronze into ale cans in 1960, making a cast of an
ordinary object into an art object, I am making ordinary cardboard
into an art object through clay.
A little about Tim Kowalczyk
I was born and raised in Morris, IL, which is a small town near Joliet, IL. My grandfather, father, and brother all worked in the box industry but I chose a different route. I went to Joliet Junior College and studied painting. Then continued my education at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale and began my undergraduate degree in Sculpture. Soon after, studying Sculpture I soon changed my major to Ceramics. The versatility of Ceramics appealed to me because of the ability to shape clay into whatever I wanted to make out of it. After completing my Bachelor's degrees in Ceramics and Art Education, with a minor in Art History, I took a year away from academia to work on my own. While working in a home studio, I decided to continue my education by accepting a Graduate position at Illinois State University where I am working towards the completion of my Master's degree. I have been accepted and shown in several National MFA exhibitions and won several awards including the Merwin Medal from McLean County Art Center.
WSS Gallery 
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phone: 630.761.9977
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