Biographical Information
Romi Sloboda was born in 1971 in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. She spent her childhood living in and navigating between the two cultures of the United States and her mother's native country, Korea. Her fascination with ceramic ware, ranging from vessel forms created in antiquity to contemporary works, is rooted in her interest in the beauty found in the mundane. Recent works revolve around utilizing simple cup shapes as building blocks to focus on pattern, repetition, surface, and form. Using the accumulation of layers and marks, with the cup form serving as both anchor and departure point, she investigates the space between representation and abstraction. Underlying her work is a sense of nostalgia for the quiet beauty of objects that are often overlooked in everyday life, and she believes that “a cup can hold a whole world in itself because whether it is empty or full, it always has potential.”
Romi Sloboda earned a Bachelor of FIne Arts, receiving her diploma from the School of Fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, with a concentration in printmaking. Her work has been shown internationally at the “Paper Road International Exhibition” in Copenhagen, Denmark; the “Pacific Rim International Print Biennial Print Exhibition” in Hilo, Hawaii; and the “International Print Triennial Cracow” in Cracow, Poland. She has also exhibited at several museums, including the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, Georgia, the Hawaii State Art Museum, the State Museum of Pennsylvania; and the the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts. Sloboda has been awarded grants by the Leeway Foundation, received an award from the St. Louis chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and recognized by the St. Louis Artists’ Guild and St. Louis chapter of the Women’s Caucus for the Arts. Sloboda also received a residency fellowship from the Cité International des Arts Fondation in Paris, France, and was an artist in residence at CentralTrak, at the University of Texas in Dallas.
In addition to her studio work, for six years (2009-2015) she served as chair of the New Mexico Museum of Art’s non-profit support group, Friends of Contemporary Art + Photography. In partnership with her late husband, artist Chip Dunahugh, Romi Sloboda also worked in the design, remodeling and renovation of historic and contemporary properties. She currently lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States.
Romi Sloboda earned a Bachelor of FIne Arts, receiving her diploma from the School of Fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, with a concentration in printmaking. Her work has been shown internationally at the “Paper Road International Exhibition” in Copenhagen, Denmark; the “Pacific Rim International Print Biennial Print Exhibition” in Hilo, Hawaii; and the “International Print Triennial Cracow” in Cracow, Poland. She has also exhibited at several museums, including the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, Georgia, the Hawaii State Art Museum, the State Museum of Pennsylvania; and the the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts. Sloboda has been awarded grants by the Leeway Foundation, received an award from the St. Louis chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and recognized by the St. Louis Artists’ Guild and St. Louis chapter of the Women’s Caucus for the Arts. Sloboda also received a residency fellowship from the Cité International des Arts Fondation in Paris, France, and was an artist in residence at CentralTrak, at the University of Texas in Dallas.
In addition to her studio work, for six years (2009-2015) she served as chair of the New Mexico Museum of Art’s non-profit support group, Friends of Contemporary Art + Photography. In partnership with her late husband, artist Chip Dunahugh, Romi Sloboda also worked in the design, remodeling and renovation of historic and contemporary properties. She currently lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States.