Ms. Kiese’s lively demonstrations and lectures in contemporary sculpture and installations have inspired many students. Ms. Kiese attended the Art Students League of New York; the University of California, Los Angeles; and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she received her MFA degree.

A distinguished lecturer in art, philosophy and art history, Ms. Kiese has spoken at the School of Visual Arts, New York City; Rutgers University, N.J.; and the Silvermine School of Art, Conn.  She was a visiting artist and lecturer at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Germany; Seattle Pacific University and Evergreen State College, Wash.; and University of California at Berkeley. Her installations and life-size sculptures are exhibited internationally.

Class Descriptions

Experimental Writing and Artmaking
Saturdays, 8:45 –12:30 pm
Ms. Kiese’s morning class explores free-form experimental writing using imagination, dream-like images and poetic experimentation inspired by art, elements of sculpture, mixed media and storytelling. Students will be encouraged to experiment with forms and styles of writing, and how to develop and advance their studies in art-making using poetic words and text.  Ms. Kiese will provide diverse visual presentations, including pieces by contemporary artists, poets, philosophers and writers, who work with images and text in two- and three-dimensions, along with selected readings on art, aesthetics, ‘forms in nature’ and writing.

Sculpture, Varied Materials, Three-Dimensional Construction and Design
Saturdays, 1:00 – 4:45 pm
The afternoon class explores three-dimensional sculpture and construction. Silya Kiese guides students to explore their creative mind's eye and finding their own creative identity.  She teaches them how to discover forms and three-dimensional design, and how to construct and combine varied materials for use in sculpture and installations, as well as on canvas and paper.  Students learn about the use of aesthetics, forms & rhythms, shapes, color, light and shadow, straight and curved lines, planes and volume, and how to experiment and imagine the manifold possibilities in sculptural object-making.