Meredith Kuntzsch was born in Midland, Michigan.  She received her B.A. from Michigan State University in 1990. Immediately upon graduation she moved to Chicago and joined a downtown Michigan Avenue advertising agency.  After several years in account and creative management, Meredith opened her own marketing and design firm serving large accounts such as Motorola, AT&T and the Chicago Symphony.

It wasn’t until personal tragedy struck nearly a decade later that Meredith, forced to look at life in a new way, made a surprising discovery - a talent for the fine arts.  First done simply as a form of therapy, her art quickly gained recognition in museum and gallery shows.  Meredith is now a full-time, award winning professional artist.  Her work is in private and corporate collections throughout the world.

mkuntzsch2@mac.com

Artist Statement

My work deals with the notion of preservation, both in the natural world and in our human, experiential world. I try to examine what we may be losing to cynicism, greed and lack of intelligent, carefully considered use of our land, and therefore our own personal experiences. The landscapes seek to create a dreamlike atmosphere where fundamental value overrides the extraneous noise of our modern world.  Our recurring dreams are often our most profound.  My work contains recurring interpretations of this same "place" - this dreamscape - where colors collide and settle into minimal forms creating a visual hiatus imbued with nostalgia.  It's this "place" that I understand to be where a purer form of humanity exists; a place where we are alone to shed bare our immaterial public facades. My use of pastels gives me the feeling of being one with the “dust” of the ground we walk on. Working directly without brushes reinforces the experience of shedding the extraneous for a direct experience.

I work on a specially prepared paper that has a fine pumice ground applied on top. By stroking the sticks of pastels across this abrasive surface, the dry colored pigment becomes embedded in the "tooth" of the paper. I create my paintings by blending and by overlaying visible strokes. My paintings are framed behind non-reflective, museum quality glass.

“I tell you, the more I think, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”

- Vincent Van Gogh

©Meredith Kuntzsch, 2010