A native of Chicago and longtime Montana resident, Karen Chesna earned her MFA in Sculpture/Metals from the Academy of Art University, and holds a BA in the History of Art and Architecture, with concentrations in Native American and Indigenous Art, from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She spent many years working in the Anthropology Department of the Field Museum of Natural History and considers having access to the museum’s vast storerooms a major influence on her sculptural jewelry, artist books, and small metal-based interactive sculptures.