Weehawken, NJ

Katia Bulbenko

THE PRIZE FOR EXCELLENCE IN FIBER ART 2022

Selected Work

About Katia Bulbenko

My assemblages are informed by imperfection, erosion, and impermanence. Objects shaped by and subjected to wear, such as a peeling plaster wall, a bit of seashell, or a twisted tree branch that has withstood exposure to the elements all have history and stories. I work with the organic shapes and gestures inherent in eroded fragments and compose them in ways that tell a new story. By adding color and embellishment I celebrate their beauty and strength. Each construction is an object; it becomes its own realm evoking a universal feeling of separateness and belonging. Experiences as a printmaker and textile designer have contributed to my process of working with pattern, layers, shadows, textures, form, surface and color. The painted and printed fabric, jigsaw-cut wood, Yupo paper, ink, marker, acrylic paint, watercolor, silk, thread, wire, beads, and polyester stuffing are intuitively assembled to contrast and harmonize, then are finished with more detail as I coax them into being.