Becca Kacanda

About

rotto: latin, ruptus: broken.

grotto: a natural or artificial cave, especially devoted to some saint, holy person, or deity, as an altar, chapel, church, or temple.

Becca Kacanda was born and raised in Queens, NY and earned a BFA from The School of Visual Arts in New York City before relocating to the midwest. She is currently enrolled in the Graduate Art Therapy and Counseling program at Mount Mary University in Milwaukee, WI and is passionate about exploring the intersections of creativity, artist identity, and mental health. She is also very inspired by psychedelic assisted therapy research and is in regular conversation with leaders in the field. Her future goals include incorporating art therapy, psychedelic assisted therapy models, and traditional ways of healing. She was a test pilot for MAPS.org Psychedelic Fundamentals course and is a member of Dr. Joe Tafur’s Modern Spirit Community.

About her art work:  Inspired by both the transcendent beauty found in the decay and rebirth of the ever-changing concrete streetscapes of NYC and the rich legacy of spiritual grottoes and otherworldly folk environments in the upper midwest and beyond, her current body of textured and embedded sculptural works explores the idea of the ultraterrestrial object - a non human entity of natural or supernatural origin that is indigenous to earth. Her current method uses bottles, shrines, and modern technology such as iphones and earpod cases, which are covered in mortar or clay and generously layered with ordinary objects such as shells, rocks, coins, and tiles. The sculptures appear as mysterious shell-encrusted anthropomorphic figures, enchanting vessels, unorthodox shrines, or advanced technology dug out of the mythical earth. In addition to her personal practice she generously shares her knowledge through a variety of hands-on workshops, art therapy open studios, community engaged projects, participates in craft shows and is generally passionate about the power and magic of beautiful objects.

Some recent press: