KCJ Szwedzinski

In residence:

Erie, Pennsylvania – February,2021

KCJ Szwedzinski was born in Charleston, South Carolina, but moved frequently up and down the Eastern seaboard growing up. As an interdisciplinary artist, Szwedzinski’s work addresses social and cultural indoctrination and edification and the nature of belief and perception. Her recent work investigates the intersection of Jewish legacy and lived experience- asking questions about what we choose to embody, embrace, or deny from our inherited legacies. She was the 2018 recipient of the Mary Alice Hadley Prize for Visual Art and spent part of the year traveling to do research at the Holocaust Center and The Jewish Contemporary Museum in San Francisco. 

 Szwedzinski exhibits her work nationally and recently received merit and juror awards for the 10 x 10 x 10 show in Tieton, Washington and The Blue Grass Biennial in Morehead, Kentucky. Recent exhibitions include In the Hot Seat at KMAC Museum in Louisville, KY and the Glass Art Society + Refract NW Member Showcase at Gallery Mack in Seattle. KCJ is cofounder and executive director of Project Chance, a non-profit that raises and trains service dogs for children with autism and other disabilities. She has studied and assisted at Penland School of Craft and Pilchuck Glass School and has been an artist in residence at the Vermont Studio Center. Upcoming, she will be an artist in residence at the Chulitna Research Institute in Alaska. KCJ received a BA from the University of North Florida and an MFA from the University of Louisville. 

 KCJ lives in Seattle, Washington with her partner, dog, and guinea pig. She sometimes moonlights as a dog trainer.

EDUCATION:
MFA Sculpture / University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
BFA / University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL

AWARDS/GRANTS/RESIDENCIES:
2020 
General Scholarship, UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY (virtual class)
Artist Relief Fund, Seattle, WA
Third Place Warm Glass, Glass Gathering Online Exhibition, glassgatheringartshow2020.artcall.org/submissions/qr_view/162558
Artist Trust Relief Fund, Artist Trust, Seattle, WA
Glass Art Society Emergency Relief Assistance, Glass Art Society, Seattle, WA
Hilbert and Jean Sosin Scholarship, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA (Canceled due to COVID-19))

2019 
Merit Recognition, Patterns: Online Art Exhibition, Light, Space, and Time Online Gallery,    www.lightspacetime.art
Community Service Exchange Award, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
Artist Grant, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT 
Tina Aufiero Digital Media Scholarship, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA 

2018
Merit Scholarship, UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
Jurors Award, 10 x 10 x 10 Tieton, Mighty Tieton Warehouse, Tieton, WA
Mary Alice Hadley Prize for Visual Art, Louisville, KY
Merit Award, Blue Grass Biennial: A Juried Exhibition of Kentucky Artists, Claypool-Young Art Gallery, Morehead, KY

2017
Partnership Scholarship, UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
Work Study Scholarship, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC
SGCI Student and Emerging Professionals Grant, Southern Graphics Council International, Atlanta, GA

2016 
GSC Travel Scholarship, Graduate Student Council, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
Frederick G. Heath Scholarship, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
Allen R. Hite Scholarship, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 
Christy Wright Scholarship, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC

2015
Work Study Scholarship, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC

Artist's Website: https://www.kcjszwedzinski.com/