Co.Lab Gallery presents
Kasia Piech
FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT
TO CARE IN NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9TH, 2022 6-10PM
EXHIBTION CLOSES SEPTEMBER 30TH
Artists have the ability to comment on the society in which they live. The intent of my work is to play with certain societal themes such as religion, morals, ideals, humour, beauty, disability, and the grotesque. This new series is a body of work focusing on disability, creating assistive devices like canes, walkers, and wheelchairs out of porcelain and paper, to start a needed conversation about the fragility of life and the fundamental human right to care in Northwestern Ontario. The work I usually create is ceramic, which in some cases is visually abject due to its surface qualities; however, this new body of work includes mediums of ceramic and paper. The ceramic pieces are unglazed surfaces creating a bone-like appearance.
Concurrently, I am creating a body of work that focuses on play. Mindfulness and self-care are the new buzzwords. The conversation around one’s gifts and everyone having a gift to contribute to society; through the mindfulness of play, one will get closer to the true self and the practice of self-care and hence the discovery of one’s gifts.
Kasia Piech completed her first degree in Religious studies at the University of Windsor. After completing the degree she left to teach English in Korea for two years. In September of 1996, Piech left Ontario for Vancouver; there she studied Linguistics at Simon Fraser University. After completing the program at SFU, Kasia Piech applied and was accepted at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. There she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Majors in ceramics and sculpture; following the completion of a degree at ECIAD Piech entered into the MFA program at the University of Waterloo; there, completing a MFA in April 2003. After teaching in a variety of places in Canada and around the world. Kasia Piech is currently a sessional instructor in Ceramics at Lakehead University, completing an MA in Social Justice and working at Community Living Thunder Bay.