Kris Bespalec’s work manifests through material and memory. She is motivated by the dualities of symbolic gesture and the tangible substance in the materials she uses to create installations that envelop, challenge, and transform both the space and the viewer through immersive and interactive works.

Kris Bespalec is a researcher, educator, and multi-disciplinary artist focused on community building through interpretive history, site specific installation, and physical narratives.
She is the Manager of School and Community Programs at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga. Bespalec holds advanced degrees in sculpture and education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has taught sculpture and art history both there and at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. She sees art as a language to build community and conversation through experience and representation of the invisible.

Bespalec has conducted research and created responsive installations throughout the country. She immerses herself in communities and reflects the history there as well as the emotional, spiritual, and physical labor of women and site specific narratives. Bespalec established the Artist in Residency Program at the Houston Museum of Decorative Arts in Chattanooga and has travelled to curate and create work in Braddock, PA and Chicago, IL as well as working collaboratively with dance companies and independent artists throughout the southern US.