Kevin S Kennedy
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Artist Biography
Kevin Kennedy employs the sculptural form as a language to explore ideas of balance, movement and immobility. His process incorporates the hand made object created through traditional woodworking practices and contemporary applications.
He received an MFA from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and a BFA from Louisiana Tech University. He has served on the faculty staff at the University of Illinois, the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, Louisiana Tech University and Centenary College of Louisiana.
His work has received support through grants from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, Louisiana Tech University and the Louisiana Division of the Arts. He was the recipient of the Louisiana Division of the Arts Individual Arts Fellowship Award in 1997 and 2007. Artist residency fellowships include the Edward F. Albee Foundation in Montauk, New York, the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming and the Vermont Studio Center. His work is affiliated with Hodges Taylor Art Consultancy in Charlotte, North Carolina and Seager Gray Gallery in Mill Valley, California.
He currently lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter.
Process Description
I have created for the last twenty-five years works that emphasize movement, immobility, and balance. Most recently I have focused my work on the creation of sculptures that use utilitarian forms such as the square and the circle. These pieces, which are large-scale but delicate works, express ideas such as containment and conveyance and the fragile balance that exists between them. These recurring themes are drawn from my own personal experience serving both as subject matter and stimuli.
While the materials used in the creation of the individual pieces vary, most of the works are fabricated from wood and steel, which serve as both structure and form. Additional materials such as paper and string are then used as surface elements or separate parts.
The individual parts are fabricated by hand using conventional tools or traditional woodworking hand tools and methods. The fabricated steel work is the result of thin gauge metals manipulated through cold working processes or contemporary welding techniques.
The surface treatments appear to be antiquated because of my manipulations of burning and then burnishing them with ash and sand. The final works then project a blurring of distinction between utilitarian form and fine art object. In this way, I try to give these sculptures a context that is at the same time psychological, historical and social.
My objective is to create a beautiful object whose ultimate significance lies in its references to the human condition. Through the contrast of the large scale and delicate surface elements, I try to engage an audience both emotionally and intellectually.