HERDED, PENNED, SORTED

JUNE 7 - 28, 2024 | SNAP SPACE GALLERY

SAMANTHA KRUKOWSKI

Samantha Krukowski is an artist, author and educator. Trained as an architect and art historian, she is interested in the nature of images, objects and animals, the records of experience, the identity of place and the consequences of intervention. Krukowski’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, she is also the editor of two books – the first about Burning Man, the second about art and design pedagogy. Originally from New York City, Krukowski received a BA in Political Science from Barnard College/Columbia University (1988), an MA in Art History from Washington University in St. Louis (1992), an MArch (1997) and PhD in Art History (1999) from The University of Texas at Austin. She is a faculty member in the Painting Department at the Kansas City Art Institute and serves on the Kansas City Municipal Art Commission.

Artist Statement

My creative practice is inspired by materials, objects, places and processes that may be culturally invisible because they are common or viewed as refuse; impermanent or transitory; require magnification to be seen; abandoned or bypassed given societal and artistic designations of importance and value.

Since moving to Kansas City in 2020, my work has evolved to engage materials and processes that are related to the land, the prairie, livestock and agriculture. Materials used to make the work in this exhibition include baling wire, cattle panels, twine, rope, leather, fabric, native plants and grasses. Processes employed include knotting, tangling, weaving, leather tooling, botanical printing, cyanotype, drawing and painting. I do not work in a studio but instead prefer to activate the spaces I inhabit – garden, yard, kitchen, basement, the barn where I keep and ride horses – to support a distributed studio practice.

The title of this exhibition, Herded, Penned, Sorted, positions the artist as a wrangler. My attempts to gather, lasso, decipher, and define creative ideas and expressions echo aspects of horsemanship, ranching and cattle work. Sometimes cows are easy to find, other times they are a long way off; sometimes they are willing, other times they are flighty. Sometimes you and your horse are in the right position applying the right amount of pressure at the right moment, sometimes you are both in the wrong spot applying too much or too little pressure, moving too fast or too slow to get much of anything done.

Eucalyptus Blue Jasmine, Botanical Print, 2024