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Katie Kozak

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Katie Kozak
Bornb. 1985
EducationEmily Carr University of Art and Design (BFA) Simon Fraser University, School for the Contemporary Arts (MFA)
Known forVisual art, photography
MovementContemporary art

Kathryn Kozak (born 1985; alternatively Katie Kozak) is a Canadian contemporary visual artist based out of Vancouver, BC. Her multi-media works combine film, photography, collage and sculpture.

Early life and education

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Kozak was raised in Denare Beach, SK. She is a queer artist of Métis and Ukrainian settler descent, with ancestral roots in the Métis communities of St. François Xavier and Boggy Creek, MB.[1]

Kozak holds a Bachelor of Science in biology from the University of Victoria and attended Emily Carr University of Art and Design from 2009 through 2012.[2] She later completed an MFA at the School for Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC. [1]

Career

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In 2012, Kozak began a long-term partnership with fellow Saskatchewan based contemporary artist Lucien Durow with whom she has since collaborated on multiple exhibitions and art projects.[1]

Between 2012 and 2013, Kozak and Durow conducted a self-directed residency based out of the home of Kozak's 80-year-old Canadian-Ukrainian grandmother, Sophie Ostrowski, in Creighton, Saskatchewan.[2] The residency produced a variety of multi-media art pieces created using a household scanner that were later described and re-interpreted by Ostrowski for a 2014 exhibit in Dunlop Art Gallery in Regina.[3] The success of Baba's House then led to larger and equally popular iterations of the exhibit at Moosejaw Museum and Art Gallery 2015–2016, the Ukrainian Museum of Canada in 2015, and NorVA Centre in Manitoba in 2017.[4][5] In 2014, ARTINFO Canada named Durey on their "30 Under 30" list and cited his collaborations with Kozak on Baba's House as a notable indicator of his future success.[6]

Kozak and Durow have since gone on to collaborate on multiple exhibits across Canada including What You May Call (2013), Snow Gallery (2014), Candelabra (2019), Endless Summer (2023), and Aporia (Notes to a Medium) (2024).[7]

Kozak displays most of her work at small local galleries in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, but has also participated in larger group exhibits throughout Canada.[8][5]

Themes

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Kozak's early works, such as Baba's House, drew on her Ukrainian ancestry and explored themes of tradition memory, family and connection.[9] Her more recent works draw inspiration from her father's Métis ancestry and explore themes around connectivity to land, relationships, ritual and traces.[10] Many of her pieces incorporate discarded, borrowed, or recycled materials received from friends or family[11][12] and explore topics of ephemerality and a return to nature.[13][14]

Work

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Residencies

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  • Artist in Residence, Lobe Spatial Sound Studio, Vancouver, BC - September 2022[10]
  • Sointula Art Shed, Sointula, BC - 2018 - 2019[15]

Major exhibitions

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  • Aporia (Notes to a Medium), Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Jan 12, 2024 – Apr 14, 2024[1]
  • Endless Summer, Gordon Smith Gallery, North Vancouver, BC, Apr 15, 2023 – Jun 17, 2023[16]
  • Vancouver special: disorientations and echo, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, May 29, 2021, to January 3, 2022[8]
  • Snow Gallery, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, SK, February 2014[14]
  • Scanning a life: Baba's House, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, SK, 2014[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Artist Talk: Katie Kozak and Lucien Durey". Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. Archived from the original on 2025-04-24. Retrieved 2026-03-06.
  2. ^ a b c "Baba's House". www.babashouse.ca. Archived from the original on 2021-02-25. Retrieved 2026-03-06.
  3. ^ Fitz-Gerald, Liam. "Tradition meets modernity". The Carillon. Retrieved 2026-03-08.
  4. ^ Shelling, John (Aug 11, 2015). "Scanning a life: Baba's House is a beautiful portrait". Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
  5. ^ a b Susan Hobbs Gallery. "Beckon" (PDF). Susan Hobbs. Retrieved 2026-03-08.
  6. ^ Goodden, Sky. "ARTINFO Canada's 30 Under 30 2014". Artinfo. Archived from the original on 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2026-03-08.
  7. ^ Durey, Lucien. "CV". Lucien Durey. Retrieved 2026-03-07.
  8. ^ a b Antwi, Phanuel; Vancouver Art Gallery, eds. (2023). Vancouver special: disorientations and echo. Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery. ISBN 978-1-988860-15-2.
  9. ^ Jackson, Jenn (2014). Lucien Durey and Katie Kozak : Baba's House. Dunlop Art Gallery. ISBN 978-0-9936756-1-4.
  10. ^ a b "Katie Kozak". Lobe. Retrieved 2026-03-06.
  11. ^ Smith, Paige (12 July 2021). "Visual art students create thought-provoking artwork". The Peak.
  12. ^ Kozak, Kathryn (2022). Offering of uncertainty [Dissertation]. Simon Fraser University. https://summit.sfu.ca/item/35981
  13. ^ Bohmann, Rikkael. (2014, Feb 15). "Artists brave the cold to build a snow gallery". Leader Post (Regina). Page A.3.
  14. ^ a b Dunlop Art Gallery (February 2014). "Lucien Durey and Katie Kozak: Snow Gallery" (PDF).
  15. ^ ") - Past Artists". Sointula Art Shed. Retrieved 2026-03-07.
  16. ^ "Endless Summer". Capture Photography Festival. 2023-01-19. Retrieved 2026-03-07.
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Further reading

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  • Kozak, K. (2022). Offering of uncertainty [Dissertation]. Simon Fraser University. https://summit.sfu.ca/item/35981
  • Jackson, Jenn. (2014). Lucien Durey and Katie Kozak: Baba’s House. Dunlop Art Gallery.
  • Frei Njootli, J., & Vancouver Art Gallery. (2023). Vancouver special: disorientations and echo (P. Antwi, J. Jackson, C. Vistan, & G. Arnold, Eds.). Vancouver Art Gallery.
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