We are interviewing some of the generous donors to our MFA 2020 Fund, which will support scholarships for future Black, Indigenous, and people of color MFA students.

Our new goal is to raise $40,000 by March 2022, allowing us to increase the size of the yearly grant to match the other MFA merit awards.

Please join us in learning more about Karen Wirth, Faculty Emeritus, and her creative practice.

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Can you describe your connection to the MFA program, and speak a little bit about your background?

I served as a mentor from the very beginning of the MFA program, and over the years have mentored five students. They have included a designer, a printmaker, two photographers and a sculptor. That may speak to the wide territory that my own practice covers. But I think it’s more directly related to working with students to develop their medium connected to content, voice, purpose, meaning and context. Each relationship has been unique, and a mutual learning experience.

Before I went to graduate school, I was an elementary art teacher for 12 years, in Washington DC and San Diego. Teaching has always been a priority. Graduate school was the first time I was able to dedicate myself solely to artmaking. Balancing a studio practice and a full-time job at MCAD was something I was always very conscientious about. While serving as chair of Fine arts, then Vice President of Academic Affairs, and even a year as Interim President, I always made sure to have a project deadline ahead of me. From fellowships and residencies, to designing public art and editioned book works, artmaking has been a way to extend my ideas and research out into the world.

How has your practice been since your time at MCAD?

It’s been a year and a half since I retired from full-time administration and teaching from MCAD. Retiring into COVID was not easy; many of the things I had lined up were cancelled. On the other hand, it allowed me quiet time to take stock and think about what is ahead of me rather than behind. I am still teaching adjunct at MCAD, which is a real joy. I’m also building a new website, starting some collaborative book projects, organizing my archive, and making new work for upcoming opportunities.

What is next? Any new project or jobs that are in the pipeline?

I’m very excited about what’s coming up. I’m making a new book installation for the Outlook Gallery at Minnesota Center for Book Arts. That will be in conjunction with a retrospective solo show at Open Book for the building’s 25-year anniversary in 2025. I co-designed and helped fabricate the grand staircase at Open Book. The show will include my architecture-related books, sculpture and public art, some of which goes back to my own graduate school experience. I’m hoping to do a catalog, and a new artist’s book related to the staircase.

Coming a little sooner, in 2023, I have been selected to participate in the Arctic Circle Residency, an opportunity for international artists and scientists. The 3-week residency is on a tall sailing ship in the Arctic Ocean, sailing out of Svalbard, 10-degrees south of the north pole. My current preparatory research is connected to the arctic and the Anthropocene, such as climate change, weather patterns, and ice-breaking trade routes. I’m looking to follow it up with a studio residency in Norway where I can put the research and artic residency to work.

You donated to support our MFA 2020 Fund, which benefits future Black, Indigenous and People of Color MFA students- thank you! What motivated you to contribute to this scholarship effort?

I believe in the strength of an MCAD education, with a very committed faculty who care deeply about their students’ success, a resourceful administration with a strong vision for students’ future, and a dedicated staff who make sure students are supported. Donating to scholarships is one way I can support equitable access to the next generation of artists and designers. We need to help make that MCAD education available to students who want to make a difference, who will take what they learn here and change our futures.