Life & Work with Kasia Polkowska of Pagosa Springs and Mosca

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kasia Polkowska.

Hi Kasia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m orignially from Warsaw, Poland (b.1983) and have grown up in New Jersey circa 1993. Going back to childhood, I took pleasure in art from an early age but always as a hobby. 

When time came to head to college, I ended up pursuing Fine Arts with a concentration in Painting at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY (BFA ’06) though I was leaning toward engineering as I also loved math and problem solving. While living in New York, I became interested in Stained Glass Mosaics which became my primary focus for many years to come. 

Fast Forward to 2012 I moved to Boulder, Colorado. And soon began teaching mosaics in 2014 when a friend, Katie Moran, from Pratt who is the Executive Director at Denver’s Art Garage, offered for me to teach my first class there. Over the years, I taught hundreds of students in many unique locations ranging from my home studio in Fourmile Canyon in Boulder to traveling to teach all across the United States while living in a converted cargo van and then back in Colorado in the Santa Fe Art District in Denver where I lived in 2016.

From there, my life and creative partner Kyle Cunniff (also from Pratt) moved to Alamosa, Colorado where we lived for a few years and started a family, having two sons. As far as creativity goes, we both dove into outdoor sculpture for public art creating our first collaborative sculpture which we entered into Alamosa’s Inaugural Outdoor Art Exhibit ‘ArtScape’. I’ve participated in the program since its inception in 2017 as well as similar type programs in Aurora, Colorado Springs, Carbondale and Manitou Springs. My sculptures have won various awards and have been purchased for private collections.

Living in the San Luis Valley and falling in love with creating large sculptures for the outdoors, led me to envision building a Sculpture Park near the Great Sand Dunes National Park. In 2018, Kyle and I purchased 40 acres of land in a remote part of Mosca, Colorado and have been very slowly bringing the vision of a sculpture park to life. Today we have over a mile of trails and nearly 70 pieces of art installed along our walking paths. Each year we add new work that we rotate through Public Art Programs in Colorado and we keep extending our trail system. But being on an artist budget, we have not yet been able to open the project to the public though hope to soon.

Besides creating glass and ceramic mosaic sculpture as well as painted steel sculpture, I rekindled my love of painting after giving birth to my second son in 2020. While living in Alamosa, which is designated a dark sky region, my interest for the night landscape began to grow. Later that year we moved to Pagosa Springs where we still live today. Here my interest of the cosmos grew to take over much of my creative work. Where I live, I can often see the milkyway when I walk out my front door. My house is located across the road from the San Juan National Forest which part of the largest wilderness in Colorado – the Weminuche Wildernes. The night sky is unbelievable! Today, I love to paint mountainous scenery inspired my the various mountainous regions of Colorado and our incredible night sky. I share these works while part-taking in various juried outdoor art festivals through out Colorado.

At my sculpture park, we are finishing building an art studio/gallery space where I plan to have open studio events for the public so people to see my paintings and walk the trails exploring the growing sculpture exhibit and take an outdoor painting or a stained glass mosaic class from me.

Over the years, all of my artistic interests and pursuits have culminated into the realization of the sculpture park project Kyle and I have been working on. We hope that it can be a low key, creative oasis for people from all over Colorado and beyond. A few years ago, we briefly allowed travelers to stay at the park via AirBnB stays. We had people come from all over the country, with the majority of the people from the Front Range (specifically from Denver) looking for a place to kick back and to be inspired. The hope is that in 2026 we can officially open the park to the public in some capacity and to hit the 100 pieces of art mark! That last one may take an additional few years but there is no shortage of inspiration.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
One of the biggest obstacles for an artist is often finding the right space to create in. Starting out as an emerging artist, I struggled to have that while also juggling having a variety of jobs before finally becoming a full time artist. But when you are young, you still have the energy to go to work every day and then put in the time into your art in the evenings. Being an artist for me has always been about the hustle, you always feel like you can do more so that can be a little stressful, constantly feeling like you are skimming and coming up with solutions to endless obstacles.

Right now that struggle is different, its managing motherhood and finding enough time to work. As a parent to young kids, you feel like you should always do more and to give more time. So as a self-employed person who makes their own schedule, there is a guilt when to actually set time to work instead of playing with the little ones.

I think networking is also a key to an artist’s success and that has not been my strong point. As a more introverted person or as I sometimes refer to ‘being a hermit’ I’ve not put myself out there enough. Social Media used to be a helpful outlet in that aspect of work prior to the constantly changing algorithm as well as the elaborately edited video clips expected of everyone – that has changed the game for artists connecting with an online audience. At 41, I just don’t have that same interest in constantly creating new media content, I have only so little time and would rather create art. That aspect of work is draining for me, so I know I’m missing out in some ways by not delving in as deeply into Instagram etc. as other artists.

A most recent obstacle has been in regards to my collaborative Sculpture Park Project. It’s fully funded by Kyle and I so the growth has been slower than I’d like though we have made progress over the years. Still we haven’t been able to open up to the public and the whole idea of the project is to share it with others. But we are determined to overcome that in the near future.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a multidisciplinary artist currently focusing on: acrylic painting, glass and handmade ceramic mosaics, as well as mosaic and painted steel sculpture.

My main focus has become painting colorful, mountainous, night sky vistas. I create my mystical paintings with a slow layering of translucent, acrylic washes and after 20-50 layers of paint, I use acrylic paint markers to add patterns and intricate line work. My paintings reflect my love of color, drawing and nature. My depiction of the cosmos is what pulls people in the most.

Similarly, my outdoor sculptures are vibrant and whimsical. I aim for my 3D work to reflect my core self: the inner child, the soul, the subconscious. I don’t have a specific theme – I create whatever grabs my interest at the moment, sometimes that’s driven by nostalgia. I take pleasure in people having a spiritual connection with what I work so hard to create. My aim is for the artwork to be uplifting and to add something magical and interesting to people’s day. 
From all of my work, I am probably most known for my stained glass mosaic landscapes that reflect my love for the Great Outdoors and working with my hands as all the intricate glass shapes are hand cut. I’ve relished creating impressions of my favorite places as vivid glass compositions, all hand cut and arranged into patterns that come alive to be a recognizable place that others also connect to. My mosaic work has inspired a lot of mosaic art enthusiasts who have looked up to me as a mentor. Over the years I have taught my approach to glass mosaics to hundreds of students from across the world – that is very meaningful to me. Making those connections through my art is very special for me.

I am most proud of my ongoing work toward building my Sculpture Park. It has truly been a labor of love for the last 7 years and is a great example of ‘Art for Art’s Sake’. I’ve poured endless time and resources into the artwork I’ve installed there. No one has asked me to do it, no one has contributed any funds to any of the projects and almost no one has seen it in person. I joke around that it is a hobby project that has gone out of hand. It is a pure outlet for my artistic spirit. It’s like when you are a kid and you just need to draw something, just because you want to. Its a true reflection of me. I love how pure that is. In today’s competitive world, it is easy for artists to eventually create what the public responds to and what pays the bills vs what might be brewing inside the artist. The sculpture park project for me is free from those demands and that makes me incredibly proud that I was brave enough to pursue it.

As far as what sets me apart from other artists, is probably not having a very set style. I skip around from various themes and mediums. I feel like many artists over time develop a very clean and polished product that is reflective of an aspect of their personality. I’ve always thought that was really neat yet I feel like I’m not able to fit in just that one box that can be more easily marketed to a targeted audience. My interests keep shifting which I think divides my audience a bit more.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
The best way to support my artistic journey is through purchasing my art, mainly my paintings via my online art shop or one of the local art festivals I participate in annually. I only release limited sculptures each year and those go directly to my sculpture park or a public art exhibit here in Colorado – sometimes one is available via a Public Art Program. I don’t do commissions as many artists do but may be open to some down the line, but only as far as my colorful steel works go, no mosaics and no paintings.

I can collaborate on community based projects. I’ve organized a mosaic mural in the past and it was amazing to share that with my neighbors. I would love to create more mosaic murals for the public to enjoy. I am open to collaborating with others as together we can make things better!

Once I finally open up the sculpture park to the public, I hope to create opportunities for other artists to be involved with the project. For example, I would like to create an annual art festival for local creatives in the San Luis Valley. There is so much talent in the surrounding area and I’d love to highlight the magic that is alive in rural Colorado.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kasiapolkowska.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kasia_polkowska_art
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KasiaPolkowskaArt
• Other: https://www.kasiapolkowskashop.com

Image Credits
Kasia Polkowska
Kyle Cunniff