Kasia Pawluskiewicz, born in Seattle, Dec 10th 1979, is a Polish/American artist of many mediums. With a degree in sculpture and painting, she also creates in arenas of video art, printmaking, photography, installations, mixed media arts, book making, murals, treasure map making, tree house and outdoor construction, metal casting, interior design and carpentry.  Kasia grew up in Seattle being an active member of the Polish Youth Group, in the theater and scouts, where she learned about Polish culture and art. As a teenager, she briefly attended the Kenar School of Art in Zakopane, Poland, and studied ceramics and drawing.  The public school system did not suffice her interests or attention, which unfortunately lead to trouble and drug use.  At 17, went to a private school in the mountains of New Mexico, completed the Narconon Purification program that handled her body, mind and spiritual ruins.  She received her high school diploma there, and was trained in communications, drug education and counseling, aside from all of that, she picked up the trade of carpentry, under Shane Kenney of Heritage Restoration (The Portland Stair Company).

 

Back to Seattle for her four prolific years at Cornish College of the arts, with her integrity and life restored she was on track with her true purpose – making the world a better place with the field of art.  Having exhibitions after each school year, with the reward of traveling to foreign countries every summer, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Israel, Egypt, South East Asia, Australia, Venezuela, the Caribbean, she gained a great array of life experience.  Observing 30 countries and cultures, she realized that people were people, no matter what race, religion, diet or lifestyle.  She soon became a member of Artists For Human Rights, promoting the Human Rights through the organizations of AFHR, Youth for Human Rights and Citizens Commission of Human Rights, when she moved to Los Angeles at 25.  AFHR went to the UN headquarters in NYC in 2006, and had an exhibition with thirty artists each representing a Human Right with their work at the Westwood Gallery, it received national acclaim.

 

The metal sculpture “Little Birds on a Big Wire,” a limited edition piece is 100 aluminum cast birds on a 12 ft copper flat bar. “Despite being symbols of freedom, they are locked to 1 world, 1 system, 1 reality.  One bird disagrees, branches out and flies away.  This one knows its rights. CAST YOUR WINGS. Think for yourself. You have that right.”  - k.p. [United Nations Declaration of Human Rights: Article #18  Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion #19  Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression]

 

Three years being in Los Angeles, Kasia had shows at the Johnson Art Gallery, the Modern Art Gallery, Bergamot Station and Art Share, in the Artist District as well as private showings in a residence in Bel Air. She was a major contributor to the establishment of Jeremy Mora’s POVevolving Gallery – hosting fundraiser events and the construction of the gallery space.

 

Kasia spent a few months painting a series of Polish themed paintings in the Warsaw old town square loft of Polish surrealist painter and comrade Rafal Olbinski, and was influenced by his illustrative surrealism. During her stay, she created her first short film entitled “My time in Olbinski’s flat.”  The same trip, she was on national television and in Newsweek Magazine promoting the use of the Narconon Purification Program as an affordable, workable, non-psychiatric, non-medicinal solution to the current drug problem in the country.

 

After half a year in Seattle, building a luxury tree house and classy chicken coop at a private residence on Haller Lake, Kasia decided to head East, leaving her motorcycle behind.

 

Spent a few months in Buffalo, NY before she missed the mountains and green of the NW.  In those few months, she reached Buffalo city officials, council members, the public school advisory board and other leaders to incorporate a new Human Rights campaign with the expressive and newly created public service announcements of the Human Rights and the Story of the Rights, put out by Youth for Human Rights. She designed a program in which every art student created a work of art for a human right, and entering into a district juried exhibition.  It was a good place for the pilot, her intention is to get the program approved and applied nation wide.

 

The most recent series of paintings “Everlasting Moments and Still” are about emotion. Each painting has an emotional ‘tone,’ i.e., boredom, serenity, happiness, content, numb, fear, confront...mixed with a timelessness to truly capture the moment of feeling.  This is shown through the female form, with a bird flying out of the body of the figure.  The bird is a symbol of life force, for thought, or energy.  

 

The bird became a trademark in Kasia’s work when at Cornish, she created a casting space in the sculpture department, brought in a Polish wooden bird souvenir for her casting test run, and a hundred castings later, noticed the bird form coming out in her life drawing class work. After ten years of painting, the bird has evolved. First as a contour line drawing with out wings, then with wings, then in motion, next it found a relationship with the girl it came out of – and she became aware of it, and most recently the bird has become more real, with details like feathers and eyes. The evolution of the bird is related to Kasia’s journey of life as well, getting more confident, alive, wings spreading wider, more exact and certain. Perhaps, the next phase will be a nest with eggs....

 

Back in the Northwest, Kasia bounced up to Alaska to film a show called “Girls Gone Wilderness” with her four closest girlfriends, Denise Highshaw, Ryan Elizabeth Lanik and Naija Hoy. After a week of shooting and adventuring, she returned home to be with family and made a home and studio in Bellevue, when she got the call to become chef, crew and videographer aboard the wilderness charter vessel. She happily accepted and worked for the rest of the season on the water. Using her well traveled and experienced palette, she cooked the fresh catches and used what provisions were available to make a wide range of colorful dishes, all the while, fishing, filleting, shooting photos and video, bear watching, kayaking, wilderness adventuring, crewing and making fish prints.

 

As a result, Kasia was inspired to share the experience within her self-published: “Alaskan Seafood on the Sea, the Cookbook.”  Having a sold out release party, now in full production, promotion and distribution of the book, while working with Publisher Epicenter Press to officially release the book in 2013.  This lead to the Executive Chef profession and trade on luxury yachts, taking Kasia thoroughly through the NW and Canadian waters, the entire East Coast of US, Bahamas, Exumas and Turks Caicos.

 

The Pawluskiewicz’s teamed up to release a family recipe and formed a company called The Northwest Spice Co. “Alaskan Fish Spice,” is already packaged and available, see it in stores in the NW.