Sculpting a tree of knowledge
- Katarzyna specialises in combining wood with bronze and acrylic resins
- She feels sculpture allows her to be true to herself
- She grew up in Poland and studied in Krakow and Paris
“I remember one day when I was nine years old, I was holding a piece of linden wood in my hands, and suddenly I had a moment of illumination,” says Katarzyna Kot-Bach. Deciding she wanted to work with wood, she got hold of some tools and began to create. “The more I hit the hammer, the more I wanted to develop sculptural skills... I loved the smell of wood and its natural structure.” Now an independent artist working in her studio in Koerich with the collective Sixthfloor, Katarzyna creates sculptures mainly in wood and bronze, as well as installations and land art. She is also a member of the Association of Visual Artists of Luxembourg (AAPL) and of ARTmadeinluxembourg.
INTERVIEW
It is rather that sculpture chose me. I love working in three dimensions, being inside the material, interacting with it and transforming it. The process of creation has allowed me to become what I should be, it is a way of being true to oneself, of creating an artistic personality, an identity.
I recycle and transform the wood, using fragments of different trees to create my own tree of knowledge. A curator once told me that I know how to extract the soul from the wood, which was a great compliment for me, because it sums up what I do.
I started to grow new roots in Luxembourg, but Polish sap is flowing in them. In the marriage of wood from both countries, I create a new territory, an affiliation to the places that formed me.
Tradition is a synonym for the transfer of knowledge and culture from generation to generation. It is a way of transmitting universal ‘content’ that can lead to innovation. Innovation includes development, one of the most important elements of the creative process.
