Kay Campbell

Case Histories
mixed media: beeswax, branches, paper, metal
26 x 32 in.

I have always been interested in working in mixed media and with found objects, both human made and natural. I enjoy the relationship between “lost” and “found” and placing importance on discarded materials, increasing the value of non-art media. In recent work that utilizes rose branches, I am exploring the veneers or emotional barriers that people employ to define personal space or territory. The individual components are beeswax castings of branches that are made to the proportion of a microscopic slide. These “specimens” can be viewed as translucent moments in time or can be examined more closely and further analyzed. The branches represent a gesture, an attitude, an interaction.

A fundamental element of this work is a formal interest in the design element of line. My concept of “line” conveys a link, a connection, and an extension of things that were or will be. Metaphorically, line in the form of a branch is scavenged from the discarded garden pile and savored for its relationship to preservation as opposed to its inevitable degeneration.

Kay Campbell is a native of Toledo, Ohio. She received her MFA in Fibers & Textile Design at the University of Kansas and her BA in Fine Arts at the University of Toledo. She is currently a Professor of Art at Oregon State University where she serves as area head of the Foundations program. She formerly ran the Fibers program in the Department of Art at Southern Oregon University from 1987-1999. Campbell is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi honor association. She lives in Corvallis with her husband, sculptor, John Maul.

© Kay Campbell