Visiting Artist Lineup
November
Stephanie Simek
November 14–16
Using an array of materials, Stephanie Simek makes works in two dimensions, three dimensions, sound, and performance. Select projects have included a room-sized crystal radio, self-assembling keys, and an observatory tower in Corinth, Vermont.
Starting in 2007, she began performing with instruments she built from deconstructed obsolete devices. Simek continued on the path of researching the inner workings of materials and systems with unique and exceptional properties, becoming an artist in residence at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. This engagement was dedicated to an inquiry titled "Jewels/Joules", and led to a research residency at Signal Culture in New York, where she studied the magnetic recording potential of minerals. Looking further into visualizing what is happening under the surface, she then worked as a physicist’s apprentice making ultrasonic sensors for the semiconductor industry. This two-year partnership allowed her to incorporate specialized skills into her practice and further develop a perspective on material relationships.
Recently, Simek has been awarded an Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship and Career Opportunity Grant, and participated in artist residencies at Mass MoCA (where she received the Ford Family Foundation’s Oregon Visual Arts Fellowship), Tobichi Art Museum (Japan), A.R.E. (Netherlands), and Viborg Kunsthal (Denmark). She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen
November 28-29
Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen’s work is the result of countless hours of observation and dedication to the studio glass movement. After earning her BFA in sculpture from Ohio University, glass quickly became the driving force in Karen’s life. She moved to Washington State in 1987, and soon afterward she began working as an assistant to the legendary glass artist William Morris. Since then Karen has honed her artistic voice and has helped pave the way for young women in the hotshop. Raised in Ohio, the daughter of a naturalist father, Willenbrink-Johnsen is constantly inspired, revitalized, and awed by the power of nature capturing this spirit in her own work. Karen’s unique vision and passion for glass is evident in everything she does. Through teaching sculpting classes worldwide with her husband and collaborator, Jasen Johnsen, they have inspired hundreds of new glass artists through their love and proficiency of glass.
December
Raven Skyriver
December 10-14
Born in 1982, Raven Skyriver started blowing glass in high school at the age of sixteen. Raven’s mentor, Lark Dalton, taught him how to build glass blowing equipment and trained him in the traditional Venetian technique. In 2003 Raven was invited to join the William Morris team. He worked on the team until Morris' retirement in 2007. The experience of working with such a talented group of artists galvanized his decision to follow Glass Sculpture as a profession.
Raven lives near the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington, and produces his work in the greater Seattle area. Raven shows his work nationally and has been featured in group shows internationally. His focus in the area of sculpture, and the depiction of marine life is inspired by his island upbringing, and informed by the creatures that inhabit this fragile ecosystem.
