Bio
email: diane (at) rubyreusable.com
Diane Kurzyna
born: 1958, Kearny, NJ (currently resides in Olympia, WA)
B.S Rutgers University, 1981;
B.F.A University of Washington, 1989
Diane Kurzyna (pronounced Kerr-zee-na, a Polish surname) was born and raised in Kearny, N J, the oldest of three daughters. Growing up near the Hackensack Meadowlands (otherwise known as "the dumps"), she was particularly aware of the ramifications of garbage.
Her father, Anthony Kurzyna, was employed at the NY/NJ Bulk Mail facility in the meadowlands industrial area, where he routinely scavenged useful and interesting junk from surrounding businesses. Diane remembers using the ends of two by fours as building blocks, and always having drawing paper that had been printed on one side. These materials her father found awaiting disposal at the dump, long before curbside recycling. He even made her a desk from post office packing crates, discarded oak drawers, and a door. Kurzyna credits her father's love of finding treasure in trash as a major influence in her art and life.
Diane made her first sculpture out of junk materials during her freshman year of high school, when the art room was in transition and traditional art supplies were difficult to access. She used tin cans, light bulbs, plastic cutlery and wire, among other things, creating whimsical human figures, a form that she would come back to years later. As a student at Rutgers, she created a wall-sized weaving that was "anything but wool," incorporating all sorts of man-made throwaways, in rebellion against the natural, earth tone crafts aesthetic of the time. Displaying this wild weaving at her hometown's annual art show, Diane outraged the traditionalists but impressed the judges enough to award her first prize in crafts.
Kurzyna graduated from Rutgers in 1981 and worked as a home energy specialist in Newark, NJ until she found herself eligible to collect unemployment. On a whim she decided to go to Seattle, seeking fresh opportunities. In the fall of 1982 she crossed the country with fellow hometown artist Robin Wassong. Kurzyna did stints as a temporary clerical worker, Greenpeace solicitor, waitress, day care worker, and even as a "migratory garbage collector," where she participated in a litter survey as part of a three person crew, picking up trash in various locations and then recording the data.
After her father's death in 1984, she decided to enroll at the University of Washington, where she took classes from Jacob Lawrence, Michael Spafford, and Michael Dailey. It was Hazel Koenig, an art education and fiber arts professor with a passion for color and pattern, who influenced and encouraged Kurzyna the most. Diane, having learned coiled basketry from her youngest sister, taught Koenig's students this technique, using clothesline and yarn. Kurzyna began using alphabets in her work when she purchased cardboard display letters at eclectic visual artist Carl Smool's garage sale. She has utilized these letters many times, including her UW BFA project. She received her BFA in fiber arts and a teacher's certification in 1989.
It was in 1986, at the Tacoma Art Museum's juried crafts show, that Kurzyna met her major contemporary influence: Northwest artist Marita Dingus. It was Dingus who introduced Kurzyna to recycled fabric art held together using a hot glue gun. This tool transformed the way Kurzyna approached her own work, freeing her from the more labor-intensive, traditional crafts techniques and enabling her to explore a greater variety of materials and methods.
In 1987 Diane Kurzyna married environmental activist Alan Reichman, and they moved to Wallingford (Seattle), where Kurzyna set up her art studio in the basement. The house was just up the street from Archie McPhee's, which sold all sorts of plastic trinkets. These colorful trinkets, as well as children's broken toys, were soon a part of her work. Their first son, Max, was born in 1989.
Kurzyna participated in art shows throughout the region, and taught art to children in a variety of settings, including three years as the elementary art teacher at St. Thomas School, an Episcopalian school in Bellevue, WA. In 1993 a second son, Joe, was born. Alan graduated from UPS Law School and accepted a position as an assistant attorney general, so in 1995 the family moved to Olympia. During the moving process, a lot of Kurzyna's artwork was damaged by mold beyond repair, and had to be thrown out. This was when she consciously decided to work with much more durable materials: wire and plastic.
Diane Kurzyna finds Olympia a good place to be as an artist. She has a studio above ground now in downtown Olympia (Ruby Re-Usable at Castoff Art Studio), which she opens to the public for Arts Walk, Olympia Studio Tours, and other events.
She is a rostered Washington State Arts Commission artist-in-residence, teaching mixed recycled media in schools statewide. Officially a "Master Recycler" volunteer, having taken an eighteen-hour class through the Thurston County Solid Waste division, Kurzyna is passionate about recycling and other environmental issues. A founding member of ODD (Olympia Dumpster Divers), she continues to show her recycled artwork locally, regionally and nationally. Kurzyna has been the guest curator for a number of art shows, including "Scrounged" at the Henderson House Museum, "RAGS" at Monarch Art Center, "Re-Art Show" in Ballard and "Java Divas" at SPSCC. Her first one-person installation, entitled "White Trash Wedding," was at The Evergreen State College Gallery IV, 4/2002. Her next one-person show was a continuation on that theme, with new work: "White Trash Wedding Redux," at the Art Center Gallery, Seattle Pacific University, 2/2003. In May of 2003, Diane Kurzyna was accepted as a member of North West Designer Craftsmen.
While recycled materials is the common theme that runs through the work, Kurzyna employs a variety of techniques to create installations, as well as sculptures, dolls, baskets, masks, quilts and other wall pieces. Finding inspiration from a variety of sources, Kurzyna feels a kindred spirit with folk artists through out the ages. She is interested in celebrating human ingenuity while calling attention to human excess. "I feel like I am making a silk purse out of a sow's ear every time I create a new art work from old, used, discarded stuff......."
Diane Kurzyna, Olympia, WA
© 2007 Diane Kurzyna*© 2007 Lilthea Designs