Artist Statement

Hi I am Kristina, and I am going to school at St.Cloud State for a Bachelors Degree in Art Education. I believe art helps us develop skills used in our every day lives is a medium to better understand ourselves and the world around us. Art introduces a positive outlet for self expression, creative problem solving and is a great source of therapy.

My dream when I was little was to become an Art Teacher. As a kindergartener I found myself drawing advanced pieces of art. Later I used art as a way to express my emotions and to build confidence in gaining and building new skills. Art has been my life! After learning how art has helped inspire me I wanted to teach others. My strive to learn more about art and to further my education has lead me to go back to school at St. Cloud State where I will soon graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Art Education.

I chose to go to school to become an Art teacher because I love making art and helping others learn how to express themselves and gain confidence through it. With art I feel it can be very therapeutic and it is a great way to help kids express themselves in a creative healthy manner. By following my passion in life as an Art Educator I hope to set an example and make an impact on each unique individual.

Currently as a student I had the opportunity in the fall to enroll in ART 360 Sculpture 1 and ART 350 Printmaking 1. Through these classes I created the art I have submitted. For starters, “Trust in the Journey” was my final project for my Sculpture class where I took interest in how to weld and cut glass. In this piece I wanted to express my own personal life journey and to believe in myself. I started by digging deep in to my soul during this time and came up with the idea of a rough road which represents my past and a glimmering colorful swirly like figure to represent my soul. On this figure I cut out pieces of square glass to also represent an abstract Rubik cube to represent how life is a puzzle. I welded everything together and mounted it on a stand then for the class presentation I placed my sculpture in the middle of the Kiehle Visual Art buildings entrance. This was supposed to represent as a sign to fellow classmates that if I can do it they can too! It was a sign of inspiration to follow there dreams even if the road is rough.

For my second submission: “An Artist Soul,” I was introduced to Printmaking where I had the opportunity to learn about the printing press and learned the process of making a print by etching on a copper sheet. This was very interesting and I am glad I had the chance to learn about this process. When asked to create any image I wanted by my professor I got excited because it is rare to be given that freedom in class. I looked inward for inspiration and at this time I had been doing some inner soul searching. So I started to try and draw my soul. I wanted to express that I am forever growing and changing and tried capturing this forever moving energy. I did this by creating an organic abstract swirling image where I also whipped ombre colorful ink to capture my colorful soul.

This school year has been an adventure in trying to figure out who I am and working on myself. I am glad I have been given the opportunities to enroll in these amazing art classes to help better understand myself and achieve my life goals.

Thank You,

Kristina Rose Zabinski

Trust in the Journey

An Artist Soul