Check Out Kara Zuzu’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kara Zuzu.

Hi Kara, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My artwork has come to the southwest via the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. During the month of March 2022, I was the museum’s artist-in-residence. The desert has always fascinated me, and I am obsessed with the natural duality it represents. It can provide life and abundance as quickly as it can take it away.

In preparation for my residency, I created and connected with the animals and flora of the area I was familiar with.

Still, once I was immersed in the desert physically, I soon realize just how abundant life is here. I completely let the desert take over me and created works that reflected my experience. The Museum provided me with space and time to create artwork, something that is invaluable to an artist and I am forever grateful for it.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has been bumpy, winding, uphill, downhill, dead-ended, AND smooth! To be an artist is also to give up a sense of security and consistency, to understand that art ebbs and flows, that sometimes you are in control and other times you are not. During the pandemic, I lost my teaching job, a profession I was in for over 12 years. Even though I was devastated by this, the silver lining was an opportunity to emerge as a full-time working artist. As an educator, I had to split my time between art making and art teaching, now I could focus all of my time and energy on just my art.

It was exciting and sometimes depressing trying to figure out what a full-time artist looked like and meant to me.

But, through age, experiences, and maturity, I am constantly learning more about myself as an artist and discovering where I fit in the art world. These journeys of self-discovery are a constant in my life, and the more insightful I become, the more I can navigate life and art in healthy ways. I appreciate the struggle because through it all making art always prevails. My perseverance and passion for making art helps to ground my identity and validate me in calling myself an Artist.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My work is inspired by animals and nature often using animals as a metaphorical and symbolic extension of the human experience, reflecting back upon us as a shared collective. I feel most grounded when I am immersed in nature and hope to project that same feeling onto my patrons.

Though I am most known for my animal sculptures, I like to have fun in the studio from time to time and create works based on some of my favorite things that are not naturally related. I recently sculpted a small series of functional works inspired by the movie Beetlejuice, Halloween is my favorite holiday. For me, occasionally taking a break from my traditional style is a way for me to feel refreshed and maintain enjoyment from artmaking while also improving upon or learning new skills.

One work that I am most proud of, is a 3-foot-tall red-tail hawk sculpture carrying a snake in its talons. Over the pandemic, I challenged myself to create the largest sculpture I had made to date. The critical thinking and engineering it took for me to create such a huge and dynamic piece were inspiring. Starting this project, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do it, but the completion filled me with such pride and confidence to sculpt anything!

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and are any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
The ability to pivot. Over the pandemic, I lost my job, housing, and my identity! (Not figuratively, someone literally stole my social security). Prior to the pandemic, I had clear goals. My short and long-term plans were permanently disrupted due to the consequences of the pandemic.

However, artists are critical thinkers and problem solvers, skills that I often apply to my personal life. My goals had not changed, but how to achieve them did. I needed to cut a new path. This ability to pivot when a door is seemingly closed to a door that is open has allowed me to never give up on my dreams as well as the confidence and trust in myself that no matter what happens I will land on my feet.

Contact Info:

• Website: karazuzu.com
• Instagram: @karazuzuart