1989-1997

At the turn of the decade, Kogelnik created works which were a combination of paintings and ceramics which she called Expansions. Her growing visibility led to the opportunity to make work with master craftspeople in new mediums, including bronze and glass. With her cancer diagnoses at the start of 1993, symbols of mortality reappeared, but still with a sense of humor. The image of the head became central to her final years of production. Both expressive, cartoonish and profound, it provided a surface to further explore color, pattern and decoration through painting, ceramic, on paper and in print. With its spiky hair and open eyes and mouth, this iconic image became one of Kogelnik’s trademark motifs.