34 years! (707) 933-1300 info@sculpturesite.com
34 years! (707) 933-1300 info@sculpturesite.com
Marilyn Kuksht earned a Master of Arts degree from the University of Washington. But she first followed a corporate path. At the peak of a highly successful corporate career (managing a division of over 800 people at the Bank of America) she abruptly changed course to focus entirely on art.
Kuksht has been a full time sculptor for over 25 years working primarily in fabricated steel and bronze as well as cast bronze. Her passion for welding was ignited by a course and she soon found herself making metal sculptures. Within a year, sculptures from her first welding class were exhibited in a major downtown San Francisco gallery; by her second year of sculpting she was invited to Sweden for her first solo exhibition.
She now works out of her rural studio at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains in California. She specializes in commission work and welcomes a team effort with architects and interior designers. Her sculptures are noted for their unusual and colorful paints and patinas which have become a signature of much of her work.
Kuksht’s sculptures, which range from small pedestal pieces to large outdoor public works, have been exhibited and retained in galleries and permanent collections in Europe, Asia, and throughout the United States. She has won juried competitions and public art commissions and has had monumental public works in the California cities of Los Gatos, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and Santa Clara.
Selected Exhibitions
2021 SculptureWALK at Sculpturesite Gallery, Glen Ellen, CA
2021 Sculpture of The Pacific Rim, Commonwealth Club San Francisco
2020 New Works, Kuksht, Archival Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2020 Santa Cruz Art League Group Show, Santa Cruz, CA
2019 Galerie d’ Archival Salon, Archival Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2018 The Box It Came In, Archival Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2018 Outside The Door, R.Blitzer Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
2018 The ARRT of Hope, Resource Center For Non-Violence, Santa Cruz, CA
2017 Metal Masters, R.Blitzer Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
2017 Trump l’oeil, Archival Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2107 Invitational Exhibition, 100th Anniversary Show, Filoli Mansion and Gardens, Woodside, CA
2016 Abstract Aspects of the Universe, R. Blitzer Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
2016 Oakland City Center Show, Exhibit via Slate Gallery, Oakland, CA
2016 UCSC Arboretum Invitational, Univ of California Santa Cruz, CA
2015 Invitational Garden Exhibition, Filoli Mansion and Gardens, Woodside, CA
2014 The Beauty of Form, Kuksht & Joachim, Blitzer Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
2014 7 At Blitzer, Group Show, Blitzer Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
2012 Reason to Rhyme (2 person show) Archival Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2012 Color and Form (3 person show) Sandra Lee Gallery, San Francisco
2011 Favorite Things, 2nd Anniv show, Davenport Gallery, Davenport, CA
2011 Old Wine - New Bottle, The Archival Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2011 Concerning the Spiritual, Davenport Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
2010 Totally Unrealistic, Kuksht/Childress/Joachim, SOMarts Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010 3 x 1, Kuksht/Thomas/Landau, Temporary Contemporary Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2010 Portraits of Artists by Anne Thiermann (and their work), Pajaro Valley, CA
2009 Form Without Function? (With Taz Childress), Big Sur Gallery, Carmel, CA
2009 Green Dimensions, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA
2009 Sculpture Is: Plein Air, Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA
2009 Visual Conversatons (Anne Thiermann), Smith Gallery, UC Santa Cruz
2009 Altogether: Assemblage/Collage, Santa Cruz Art League, Santa Cruz, CA
2008 SculpTour, Outdoor sculpture exhibit Downtown Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
2008 A Womans View, Edge Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2008 Within: Garden and Community, Sierra Azul Nursery and Garden, Watsonville, CA
2008 Implied Motion, (Solo Exhibition), Evolving Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007 Universe (Solo Exhibition), William Torphy Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2007 Vanity Fair, Artscape Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
2007 Structured Abstraction, William Torphy Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2006 Sculpture Is, Pajaro Valley Arts Council Invitational, Watsonville, CA
2006 Spring Green, Art Scape Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
2005 Adventures in Eden, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2005 Egonomics, (Curators Award), Mountain Arts Center, Ben Lomond, CA
2005 Token of My Affection, Tercera Gallery, Los Gatos, CA
2004 Abstraction Today, Modern Eye Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina
2004 Jim Shay Landscape Painting/Kuksht Sculpture, Tercera Gallery, Los Gatos, CA
2004 Iron and Oil, Kuksht and Griffith, Art 21 Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
2003 La Petite XI National Small Format Show, Alder Gallery, Coburg, OR
2003 Lee Burroughs Arts Center (solo exhibit), Yuba Sutter Regional Arts, CA
2003 Abstract Realities, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2003 Pacific Rim Sculptors Group, Winter Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
2002 Bold Expressions, Sacramento Fine Arts Center (NCA), Carmichael, CA
2002 Hespe Gallery, Solo Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
2002 Trout Fishing In America, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2002 Form and Idea, New Leaf Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2001 Winner, outdoor sculpture competition/commission, Town of Los Gatos, CA
2001 Santa Cruz Municipal Building exhibition, Juried competition, Santa Cruz, CA
2001 La Quinta Arts Festival (Juried), Palm Springs, CA
2001 Somarts Gallery, Six Perspectives on Three Dimensions, San Francisco, CA
2000 Hespe Gallery, New Bronze (Solo Exhibition), San Francisco, CA
2000 5th Annual Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Sculpture Walk, Featured Speaker, SF, CA
2000 Master Artist Demonstration and Exhibition, NAGSF, San Francisco, CA
2000 La Quinta Arts Festival, Palm Springs, CA
1999 Hespe Gallery, Solo Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
1999 City of Fremont “Windows on Art” Solo Exhibition Series, Fremont, CA
1998 Terrain Gallery (Solo Exhibition), San Francisco, CA
1998 San Francisco Landscape Garden Show, Press Reception, San Francisco, CA
1998 Int’l Society of Recycling Industries, Int’l Conference Show, San Francisco, CA
1998 Terrain Gallery Exhibition, “forms”, San Francisco, CA
1998 4th Annual Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Sculpture Walk, San Francisco, CA
1997 Thomas A Oldham Gallery, Solo exhibition, Sacramento, California
1997 Oceanside Museum of Art, West Coast Painters and Sculptors, Oceanside, CA
1997 Liljevalchs Konsthall, Ilmar Laaban Tribute Exhibition, Stockholm, Sweden
1997 St. Mary’s Hospital Aids Memorial Garden, Design and Permanent Collection, SF, CA
1996 Nordic Art Fair, Sundsvall, Sweden
1996 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Sculpture Walk, San Francisco, California
1996 San Francisco Landscape Garden Show, Scultprue Garden (Juried Acceptance)
1996 A New Leaf Gallery, The figure Au Plein Air, Berkeley, CA
1995 TransAmerica Pyramid, Platinum Circle, Solo Exhibition, San?Francisco, CA
1995 Galleri Viktoria, Sven Inge/Marilyn Kuksht, Goteborg, Sweden
1995 Landskrona Art Museum, Landskrona, Sweden
1995 Guillermo Leonardo Private Collection Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
1995 Hunters Point Spring Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
1995 San Francisco Airport Photo Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
1994 San Francisco City Hall Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
1994 Sotheby’s Auction, New York City, NY
1994 Trygg-Hansa Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
1994 Represented at the Chicago International Art Exposition, Cobra Fine Art, Chicago, Il
1994 Gallery KP, Stockholm, Sweden
1994 Norcal Industries Artist-In-Residence Program, San Francisco, CA
1994 Imperial Bank Exhibition (Peter Kukei/Marilyn Kuksht), San Francisco, CA
1994 Carl Marcus Gallery (Solo Exhibition), Stockholm, Sweden
1993 Imperial Bank Exhibition (Rudy Pillen/Marilyn Kuksht), San Francisco, CA
1993 Cobra Fine Art Gallery (Sven Inge Exhibition), San Francisco, CA
1992/3/4 Artspan’s San Francisco “Open Studio”, San Francisco, CA
1991/2 Gallery San Francisco (Guan, Miller, Archer, Young, Nicco Exhibitions), San Francisco, CA
Media
Senior Magazine, “Wonder Women Issue”, Sacramento, CA, 2010
The Sacramento Bee “Temporary Contemporary’s 3 x 1”, Victoria Dalkey, 2010
Good Times Weekly (Santa Cruz, CA), “Art on the Avenue”, Christa Martin, November, 2008
San Francisco Art Magazine, Review: “Implied Motion”, Anastasia Steinberg, August, 2008
Art Matters (Philadelphia Arts Magazine), “Women On The Edge”, Jan Feighner, August 2008
Senior Magazine, Northern California Edition, Arts Feature, August 2005
Comcast Film Production, “Artists Alive”, Through Yuba-Sutter Regional Arts Council, 2003
San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday Magazine Feature, August, ‘99
Citytv News Magazine, Intnly Syndicated Feature on Recycling and Art, Toronto, Canada, ‘98
KQED radio interview with Michael Krasney on “Forum”, January, ‘95
CA Dept of Conservation video with nationally syndicated TV hosts Allen/Sense, ‘95
ViaComm Cable TV Arts Magazine Feature for SF Open Studios, October, ‘95
Reuters International News Service Interview and International press release, August, ‘94
Japan Times human interest feature story, September, ‘94
CNN Nationally released video-Open Studio Promotion, October ‘93
To me it is a kind of magic that pieces of heavy metal can be shaped and fused, literally trans-formed, by the simple cutting torch and welding arc; that they don’t fall apart; that they can defy gravity; that they can appear to be light or in flight. The individual pieces of metal are like notes of music that can be intellectually orchestrated or intuitively improvised to communicate directly with our imagination and emotions.
My sculpture focuses on the language of form, using space, negative space, balance, tension, and implied movement to stimulate feeling in the viewer. It is the interplay between exactitude of form and looseness of fabrication that gives each sculpture a distinct ‘humanity’ and emphasizes its hand wrought origin.
By merging new materials with scrap and industrial detritus these works carry footprints of our technology and culture, but attention is not drawn to the history of the materials. It is drawn instead to the sense of energy, grace and strength that is rooted in their past.
I am intrigued not only with form but with the influence of color and surface on the perception of form and medium. It is this fascination that led me to study unique paints and experiment with steel patination (the use of chemicals) to interact with, and color the surface.
I do not set out to create meaning in my sculptures. Although titles insinuate my personal response to the work at one moment in time, meaning, if it exists, is given by the viewer.