Kamensek, Otto

At the age of 9 Otto Kamensek was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and spent most of his working years as a buyer for the local electronic industry.  After numerous surgeries he retired from work and became an artist and arthritis advocate.  He has been in the ceramics area for the past 20 years and an arthritis advocate for the last 22 years. As the Ceramic Artist in Residence at PoMoArts (Port Moody Arts Centre) from 2013 until 2015, Otto completed two bodies of work for the exhibitions “Shards, Bone Deep” in 2014, and “Dave, an Unexpected Tale” in 2015. In addition, he had a 2006 solo exhibition there titled “Is it the Box… or what might be inside”. In early 2020  Amelia Douglas Gallery presented “Shards Bone Deep” and an accompanying artist talk. Otto has also participated in many group exhibitions. 

He became an Emeritus board member of the Arthritis Research Centre’s Arthritis Patient Advisory Board, formerly known as the Consumer Advisory Board (C.A.B) of which he spent 9 years as a working member and Past Co-Chair.  In this role, he worked with researchers as a collaborator on multiple research projects, public speaker, helped create a role for people with arthritis in the research field.