Karen Wirth is an artist and educator whose work encompasses subjects including architecture, language and science. Her work has been exhibited extensively, including the Smithsonian Institution and Walker Art Center, and is included in collections such as the Getty Center and Yale University. Her book works include offset editions (Visual Studies Workshop Press), one-of-a-kind sculptural pieces, and room-sized installations. In addition, she co-designed four Minneapolis Light Rail stations and the Gail See grand staircase at Open Book Center. She has received numerous grants, including Bush Artist and Bush Leadership fellowships, McKnight and NEA fellowships, Minnesota State Arts Board awards, two Jerome Book Arts fellowships, and the American Council on Education Fellowship. Published writing includes essays for JAB (Journal for Artists Books), Places Magazine, Bound and Lettered Magazine, catalog essays and book reviews for Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Women’s’ Studio Workshop, and College Art Association. Wirth graduated from UW-Milwaukee with a BFA in Art Education, and the UMN-Twin Cities with an MFA in Sculpture. She is a professor emeritus at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where she served as the interim president, the vice president of Academic affairs and the chair of fine arts.
Artist Statement
My work combines form and space, object and language, reading and deciphering. One thing leads to another, a slight change, a shift in a letter, or scale, or direction, and you find yourself in another place. I am drawn to metaphor: how objects represent themselves and something else, and how questions help decipher those relationships. Where are the boundaries? How does meaning shift? Are definitions mutable? I explore these ideas through books, sculpture, and installation. Architecture, science, and the book as object inform the work. As analogies, they allow me to develop ideas about space and experience, presence and absence, revelation and concealment. Curiosity and restlessness fuel my approach to work and life. I am an avid traveler and reader, and both are integrated into my research. A life-long commitment to teaching has provided me a portal through which sharing art and ideas with a community has been possible, and where learning is a constant reward.