Otto Kamensek was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at the age of nine.
After numerous surgeries, he retired from his work at an electronics company and became an artist and arthritis advocate.
His goal with his ceramics is to spark a conversation about how art can heal a tortured body and mind.
"This, I hope, will give a more rounded perspective to the general public and greater insight to healthcare professionals on what it might be like to live with pain and the emotions surrounding it," Kamensek writes in his artist statement.
"My ceramic style leans toward the figurative and to the texture that I always seem to add. I am not sure where this comes from, but it just does not seem to be finished if I do not do this."
Kamensek, who is now an emeritus board member of the Arthritis Research Centre's Arthritis Patient Advisory Board, was the ceramic artist-in-residence at PoMoArts (formerly the Port Moody Arts Centre) from 2013–15 and finished two collections: Shards, Bone Deep and Dave, an Unexpected Tale.
Until Sept. 6, some of his pieces can be seen at PoMoArts (2425 St. Johns St.) in an exhibition called An Abundance of Caring: Ceramics Artist in Residence 1998–2023.
Commemorating 25 years of the facility's artist-in-residence program, the show pays tribute to the 16 artists who have held the title, displaying work of 13 past resident artists, as well as their artistic forms of expression.
In addition to Kamensek, they are (in no particular order):
- Georgia Fitton
- Max T.S. Yang
- Mickey Vescer
- Serisa Fitz-James
- Drew Nolan
- Julia Nygra
- Malory Tate
- Gloria Han
- Ray Tse
- James Kemp
- Pauline Doyle
- Jacqueline Sheridan
- Clive Tucker
- Steven Provence
- Gillian McMillan
- BW Finley
PoMoArts is open weekdays from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and weekends from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
