Catherine Schwalbe

  1. Labyrinth (2017), extruded brick clay, 8 ft. x 8 ft. x 4 in.
  2. Before and After – Mending a life after a pandemic or some other catastrophic event in your life (2021 and ongoing), a social practice work: embroidered linens for promotion of this ongoing participatory work in galleries, community centers, public parks, private homes
  3. Mending Water, Mending Soil, Mending Lives – installation Honey Creek at Witwen for Fermentation Fest biodegradable survey tape stitched across the creek and nearby creek bank
  4. Everything has come to this moment (2017), mixed media installation at Waubonsee Community College 30 x 20 x 18in.
  5. An excuse to be outside (2017), mixed media, found object labyrinth, 60 x 40 x 6 in. Midwestern Rooted Labyrinth (2017) soil and water charts found objects 2 x 4 in.
  6. Labor + Time (2017) 20 x 20 x 2 in. time cards from the Reedsburg, WI Woolen Mill vintage sewing machine wand
  7. Polar Vortex (2014), porcelain, glass jars, melted snow and ice collected during the Polar Vortex from each Great Lake 4 x 4 x 4 in.
  8. Potable in Chana, IL (2013) Social Practice cup give away at a public well

ARTIST STATEMENT

My art explores aging, agriculture, nature and science, the concepts of plenty and want, reuse, food systems, water, and being human through a variety of media including high-fired clay, artist books, events, growing, installation, found objects, social practice, textiles, and cast metal. Why (often but now always) corn? It is solidly Midwestern, like I am. I have found through the deep exploration of corn, more than its history and imagery, but the fundamentals of humanity itself.

 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born and raised Wisconsin – in a 130 yr old+stone house. Schwalbe came from a family of 9 children– most, comfortable using their hands. Chicago resident for nearly 40 years. Schwalbe completed a BFA with a sculpture concentration at UW Milwaukee in 1983. Took additional classes at Artist Bookworks, Columbia College for the Book and Paper Arts, Lillstreet Art Center, and Chicago Industrial Arts and Design Center. Schwalbe’s capability to work part time as a Recreation Therapist/Consultant, in 1998, following graduate coursework in Recreation Therapy, aided in her ability to create a more solid art practice. As with many, Schwalbe will be shifting her life and reorganizing priorities in a post(ish) pandemic world, and putting both feet into her art practice. Schwalbe is a maker of objects and creator of experiences that may include mixed media, sculpture, found objects, bronze & iron, installation & site specific works all centered around issues and aesthetics related to food systems, water, agriculture, and being human. Schwalbe has Haptic Studios for more mixed media works and has been a long time member of Lillstreet Studios at Lillstreet Art Center, though she believes art happens where the artist is. She teaches a class in the Summer at Lillstreet called The Art of Food – the class evolves every year based on a theme related to food, art, and connection. Schwalbe’s social practice works have been born out of the need and comfort with engaging people, and understood (now) as an overlap with her recreation therapy practice. Schwalbe adheres to the Fluxus philosophy: “The distinction between Art and Life is irrelevant.”

artist’s website

@casbah3d

© Catherine Schwalbe