Master metalworker, Katja Fritzsche’s sculptural work is both luminous and stalwart; revealing references to both antiquity as well as nature, especially in her use of stylized deer and gazelle heads as part of the indoor and outdoor constructions. Fritzsche's work expertly balances the duality between the ruggedness of metal and the ethereal quality of glass.
“My sculptures were originally inspired by the halls of taxidermy in the Museum of Natural History in Chicago that I visited as a child and equally influenced by the Chicago’s architecture. I loved nature, live animals and nature seen through man’s lens as mounts and dioramas. I was/am influenced by Chicago’s famous architects and the industrial areas of south Chicago architecture, both the beautiful buildings and the rough rawness of the industrial steel mills. I see myself in both, the animal heads--stylized deer and gazelle heads and man’s industrial hand of materials. The animals are a mixture of opposing characteristics that we share-- strength vs. fragility, stability vs. flight, grace vs. boldness. I am inspired by their live attributes of grace, strength, beauty and raw sensuality. I am just as inspired by the uncanny strange feel of mounted heads and stuffed bodies. I am attracted to the strange lifeless stare and its new unnatural surroundings. In making the deer with bronze, steel and other materials I explore the architecture of the bodies, and use the characteristics to create a dialogue for the sculpture. The “bodies” and settings create another level of dialogue between the animal, man and its surroundings, and create a new relationship between its live characteristics and its new form and placement.” artist statement
Education
1996 MFA, Glass, NY College of Ceramics at Alfred University, NY
1992 BFA, Sculpture & Glass, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
1992 Penland School of Arts and Crafts, Penland, NC
1992 The International School of Art, Umbria, Italy
Selected Exhibitions
2007 Duane Reed Gallery, St Louis MO
2006
William Traver Gallery, Into the Woods, Seattle WA
2004
William Traver Gallery, The Strong & Noble, Seattle WA
Davis Dominguez Gallery, Beasts in Bronze, Tucson AZ
2001
R. Duane Reed Gallery, Passion & Beasts, Chicago, IL
William Traver Gallery, Endurance, Seattle WA
Ann Reed Gallery, Art with Content, Ketchum ID
SOFA Chicago, Duane Reed Gallery
2000 R. Duane Reed Gallery, 20/20 Clear Vision, St. Louis, MO
Bainbridge Arts Center, Pacific Northwest Invitational, WA
Davis Dominguez Gallery, Ketchum ID
William Traver Gallery, Seattle WA |
