Between Spirit and Matter

Sanctification. Alchemy. Magic. Beth Krensky uses words like these to describe her artistic practice, which fuses the earthly and the ethereal. A globally recognized artist and Distinguished Professor of art and art history at the U, Krensky transforms natural and manmade objects into sacred pieces used in performances that “traverse the borderlands between spirit and matter.” 

Krensky has always been drawn to forgotten things. “Even at age four, I was sneakily picking up little objects from the street or gutters and building tiny sculptures with them,” she recalls. “I’m interested in things infused with memory and that have some component of the spiritual.”

A piece now touring Australia in an international textile art biennial captures this concept. Robe of Remembrance and Return weaves together linen from Krensky’s art school days, velvet from a skirt worn to her first major exhibition in Chile, and shells gathered with her son. When the exhibit ends, Krensky will wear the robe into the Tasman Sea—echoing her recurring dreams of gliding over the ocean like a pelican. 

At her recent solo show at Material Gallery in Salt Lake, Krensky filled an entire room with years of treasures gathered across the globe. An artfully arranged collection, the Store of Wishes displayed Tibetan singing bowls, Latin American milagros, and other artifacts alongside her own creations, such as Wish, a series of wands forged from driftwood and detritus. The “store” invited curiosity, wonder, exploration—common threads in her art practice and teaching philosophy.

“The arts provide a free space where there are no rules,” says Krensky, area head of art education at the U and 2022 Utah Higher Education Art Educator of the Year. “I explore how to create those spaces for others so that they can imagine and create for themselves.”