People

After getting her MFA at the University of Wisconsin, Carol Kumata came to Carnegie Mellon School of Art in 1979 and taught in the sculpture area until her retirement in 2021. Teaching was always her greatest interest, working with a range of students in various media, concentrating on three dimensional ideas and execution.  While maintaining the metals studio, Carol taught a variety of courses across the curriculum, including a foundational class for all art and design students when the programs shared first year coursework, Senior Project, and a wide array of sculpture studios. She was also involved in Art in Context classes that took students off campus and into the city, as well as summer projects and courses in Germany and Italy.

In her studio work outside the classroom, Carol has incorporated a variety of materials from traditional metalsmithing to mixed media and found objects.  Her work spans the scale from hand holdable works to installations that command an entire room. She often uses visual and word puns to reflect on the history of objects, as well as to comment on a particular human situation or reality. Much of the work deals with the fragile and ephemeral. 

Carol has exhibited both locally and nationally, and has been the recipient of numerous awards including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Pennsylvania Council for the Arts.