Kathleen Studebaker

GeoGyro

Cast iron, steel, brass, MDF, plywood, cast plastic, acrylic, light

About the artist

Kathleen Studebaker

Kathleen Studebaker is a multi-media sculptor focusing on wood, metal, cast plastic and a variety of other materials. She is a fabricator and all-around tinkerer, and has a (potentially unhealthy) interest in order and organization. She has developed a broad knowledge-base of material processes through her work in almost every type of shop imaginable (from all-glass furniture and elaborate corporate trophies, to traditional wood working and academia), and, in addition to her art, she uses these skills to build furniture, alter and make clothing, create an infinite variety of custom storage solutions, fix just about anything that breaks, make tools & jigs, put pockets on everything she owns and just generally make things nice, tidy and functional.

Studebaker has a great love of detailed fabrication and problem-solving, and makes every element of each of her works by hand. Her work often references the far-flung future, or perhaps alternate realities, and is inspired by astronomy, narrative fantasy, and the intersection of digital technology with mechanical function. Her custom glass etchings can be found in dozens of homes across the US (and a few outside it), and her sculptures and paintings are a part of many private collections, including the permanent collections at Southern Illinois University and The University of New Hampshire. She has had numerous solo exhibitions and regularly exhibits work across the US and abroad, including at The Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis, Tennessee, The Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan, Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio, and 3S Artspace in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Her work has been featured in publications such as The Leo Weekly (Louisville, Kentucky), The Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale), and on Hyperallergic.com. She earned her MFA in sculpture from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale in 2013, and is currently working as a studio artist in Philadelphia, where she furiously organizes her life and work on a daily basis.