Paul Swenbeck

Paul Swenbeck's work combines sculpture, painting, and photography to create installations that filter craft, the occult, and spiritual themes through his own idiosyncratic perspective. Swenbeck grew up in Salem, Massachusetts — a town synonymous with the witch trial hysteria of Colonial America. Swenbeck often collaborates with his wife, Joy Feasley, to create immersive installations; most recently, they created a large-scale environment for the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

His work has been exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Morris Gallery at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Fleisher/Ollman, and Vox Populi, all in Philadelphia; the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; LUMP Gallery and CAM Raleigh, both Raleigh, North Carolina; and Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston. His work is in the West Collection, Oaks, Pennsylvania, and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Swenbeck was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 2013 and has participated in residencies at The Banff Center, Watershed, Haystack, and Stelo. He studied ceramics at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Swenbeck teaches Experimental Ceramics at the University of Pennsylvania and is currently the Senior Director of Exhibition Design and Production at The Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University.