MFA, Indiana University; BS, Ball State University
As a materials magician, Kathy Buszkiewicz creates multi-layered works from U.S. currency which explore themes relating to materialism, environmentalism, consumerism, socio-economic and cultural value. She enjoys enticing then provoking the viewer to question the nature of value and meaning.
Born in Indiana, she pursued part of her education in London, England traveling throughout the United Kingdom and Europe to study historic art and metalwork. She received her bachelor’s degree from Ball State University and an M.F.A. from Indiana University. For three years Kathy worked as a commercial jeweler and diamond setter in Indianapolis. Through a Murphy Foundation Grant she traveled to Indonesia in 1991. In that same year, she curated an ethnographic jewelry exhibition of over 250 works. As a result of her travels, various cultures have influenced her work. Since 1983, Ms. Buszkiewicz has been a Professor of Jewelry and Metals at the Cleveland Institute of Art.
Kathy has received four Individual Excellence Awards from the Ohio Arts Council in 1992, 1994, 2002, and 2006 as well as others for work research. In 2005 she was the recipient of the Viktor Schreckengost Award for Distinguished Teaching as well as the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education Award for Teaching Excellence. In 2016 she became a Community Partnership for Arts and Culture Creative Workforce Fellowship recipient.
Her work has been published in over 70 books and publications and is in the collection of several respected museums including the Swiss National Museum, Zurich, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Philadelphia Museum of Art as well as being represented in many private art collections in the U.S. and abroad. Through hundreds of exhibitions she has made a significant impact on her discipline both nationally and internationally.
