Zak Helenske
- Art Department
Zak Helenske, from Fargo, ND earned his BFA at North Dakota State University in 2009 and MFA at Rochester Institute of Technology's School for American Crafts in 2012. His time at RIT guided him to an inter-disciplinary approach to making. His sculptures reference structure and de-architecturalization through the history and vulnerability of materials.
After graduate school Zak found himself in Birmingham, AL, working in a preserved industrial site. While managing the fine art foundry housed there, the physical place, the industrial decay, and the technical education inspired his concepts and pushed the progressions of his work further.
Although his creative path has taken him through multiple mediums and communities, he credits his formative years making pottery as the foundation of his career in the arts. Now an Artist in Residence at Pottery Northwest in Seattle, WA, Zak is developing a functional body of work that runs parallel with his sculptural practice.
After graduate school Zak found himself in Birmingham, AL, working in a preserved industrial site. While managing the fine art foundry housed there, the physical place, the industrial decay, and the technical education inspired his concepts and pushed the progressions of his work further.
Although his creative path has taken him through multiple mediums and communities, he credits his formative years making pottery as the foundation of his career in the arts. Now an Artist in Residence at Pottery Northwest in Seattle, WA, Zak is developing a functional body of work that runs parallel with his sculptural practice.