How One Artist Is Using 3D Printing to Tell Stories About the Ocean

• Artist Kimberly Callas sees something different when she looks at a 3D printer. Where others see a machine for making parts, she sees a way to tell stories about the...

Artist Kimberly Callas sees something different when she looks at a 3D printer. Where others see a machine for making parts, she sees a way to tell stories about the ocean, climate change, and humanity’s relationship with nature. That vision has now earned her a place in the New York Academy of Art‘s 2026 Summer Exhibition, where her piece Ocean Reach combines hand-painted details with 3D printed biofilament to explore the beauty and fragility of marine ecosystems. Oceans, coral reefs, marine life, and the challenges facing our planet have become the foundation of her work. Callas, an artist and professor at Monmouth University in New Jersey, combines traditional art techniques with modern technologies, including 3D printing. Her piece Ocean Reach wasn’t just selected for the New York A