Karolina Maszkiewicz: Leading Mobile Artist Inspired by the Art of Nature

Karolina Maszkiewicz, a Polish born, American artist working in the Los Angeles area is turning heads and piquing the interest of serious collectors by her stunning work and boundless imagination. Karolina’s work is largely inspired by landscapes, with their stark outlines and clean color pallet. The kinetic form of her sculptures expresses motion through both their static elements and their moveable counterparts. The use of natural elements projects the feeling of being surrounded by nature.

What follows is an interview with this amazing artist.

1.Tell us about your personal and educational background. When and why did you make the move to the United States?

I grew up in Poland, in the same town where Nicolaus Copernicus was born. It is still a picturesque medieval town. As a child I used to walk the cobblestone streets to a castle of the Teutonic Order where I would stop and meet friends before heading to a local pub or for a walk along the river. When it came to art, my entire family would get involved. Our whole lives we have created things and done projects together. We were always super crafty. We’d sew our own clothes, make toys and even design our furniture. This was also part of post-Communism life for many people because there wasn’t much around. If you wanted something, you had to make it yourself. My father had moved to the states when I was still in high school. By the time I graduated, my sister and mother we already there as well, so I followed them to America as soon as I got my visa. In the late ‘90s I attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and started a career as a designer in the fashion industry. Although my endeavors focused on clothing design, I still fall back on much of what I learned then and I believe it helped me become the artist I am today. Luckily, the same rules of color and composition apply to sculpture as they did to fashion; you cannot go wrong following the six steps of design.

2. How did you get into mobile/sculpture?

While I had always pursued art on the side, my career as a full-time artist kicked off when I began studying with the modernist sculptor Brad Howe at his studio in Malibu. It was during that time that I began to be interested in kinetic sculptures. The fact that they can move and interact with their surroundings is an essential part of what draws me to them. For me, kinetic art is like nature. My sculptures are intended to embody the natural world, to remind the viewer of nature’s beauty and fragility. The Sepsates series, whose component is seed pods, is a meditation on the way we tend to ignore the natural world. The plant makes all this effort to spread seeds, and they just end up on concrete, on the streets, not being able to really do the job they’re meant to do. And most of us don’t really notice it. I wanted to turn those seed pods into something beautiful. A sculpture that you could live with and that would draw your attention to their strength and intricate system of procreation.

3. What are your inspirations?

My love of nature. The calm and serenity I feel when working with natural materials is rooted in my childhood in northern Poland. A vista or a landscape is not only profoundly therapeutic, but finding yourself in a stunning place often leads to an innate longing to capture its ephemeral beauty and render it permanent. When I first moved to Los Angeles, exploring the deserts of Joshua Tree and the mountains of Malibu gave me a sense of purpose. Those places became a sanctuary for me and provided powerful inspiration for work such as Sepsates. It’s an earthy collection of foraged, dried seed pods and other natural elements transformed into pendant mobiles.

4. What other artists do you admire? Do you take direct inspiration from them?

I’m very much inspired by female artists of the 20th century such as Niki de Saint Phalle, Ruth Asawa and Louise Bourgeois, to name a few. They are huge pioneers in sculptural practice, not only for what they designed but as women who had to muscle their way into sculpture at a time when it was not friendly to them. I love how Niki has playfully paid homage to ancient and modern mythical archetypes of women as nurturer, and to nature as a mother.

Another one of my heroes is Magdalena Abakanowicz. Her three-dimensional fiber sculptures that she calls “A search for organic mysteries” leave me awestruck. These Abakans, as they became known, were more than 15 feet tall. Hollow at the core and fitted with slits and folds, they hang from the ceiling, nearly touching the floor where they resemble shrouds, twisted tree trunks, cocoons or druid priests—strange forms summoned from the lower depths of the collective unconscious. I will never forget them.

5. What is the process (technically, emotionally, logistically) that goes into making a piece?

The process is exactly that, a process! Trial and error. Mistakes lead to new ideas. Intention leads to inspiration. During this process I try to trust my intuition and let the composition flow naturally. Sometimes the materials themselves will dictate the nature of the sculpture, as if they are speaking to me, allowing me to arrange them a certain way, and guiding me along my journey. Early on veneer caught my attention and I wanted to do something with it. I had found a stash of it hidden away in my father’s workshop where he builds furniture. Traditional woodworking, with the use of veneer, is an extension of the human-nature relationship with a long history of making ecological and environmental choices. The idea of merging manmade materials with natural ones is a big inspiration for me. I like the natural look of organic materials, especially when it’s highlighted by something so sterile as metal.

6. What galleries are you in? Where can readers find your work?

I’m currently with Twentieth in Los Angles, a beautiful galley in the Hollywood Hills enclosed by a lush garden. I also work with Tappan and Harbinger LA.

7. What are your goals/plans for the near future?

This winter I will be conducting an art residency at Parco de Sesi on a Sicilian island of Pantalleria. It’s a beautiful remote place, close to the African coast. It’s called the Black Pearl because of its volcanic origin. I’ll be working there on a sculpture made of natural elements found on the island. The piece will remain with Parco after the residency.

I’d also like to brush up on painting and drawings skills and develop a collection of wall pieces. I’m also considering taking a semester in Florence. Once I’m back in the studio I’d like to explore adding new materials to the work I’ll discover while traveling, bringing natural elements from all over the world together in my sculptures.