Brackenwood Gallery - Fine Arts and Crafts from the Pacific Northwest

Artist’s Statement

My art is founded in the joy, reverence and connection I feel with nature. The marks I make on paper are inspired by nature’s smells, living energy, pulse and breath, and by all its lovely patterns, shapes, light, and colors.

My goal is to give the viewer the same experience of connection I feel when I see a tree reaching into the sky, an expansive landscape or a slumbering pet. I approach my art with playfulness. I’m in it for those wonderful sensations that come from juxtaposing colors, textures and shapes, and interacting with media.

I like to work with a variety of media but the common thread is my interest in light. I want to delineate light and work with the ways light refracts through pigments, either printed or painted. I find marks powerful as expressive elements in drawing and painting. They’re an immediate response to the subject. I love drawing and painting from live subjects and, for that reason, plein air.

Artist’s Bio

Kris came to the northwest in 1980 to study art at Western Washington University, Bellingham where she earned a Bachelors degree in painting. She subsequently moved to Seattle, finishing her studies at the School of Visual Concepts in illustration then launched her career as an illustrator, which she has been doing for 25 years. The last three years Kris has been creating fine art using the block print medium and includes pastels and watercolor in her repertoire. She presently resides on South Whidbey Island in the woods with her two loveable dogs, Reese and Zoey.

Awards:

American Graphic Design Award 2009

Silver Medal, Creativity 38 Awards, 2008

Northwest Addy Award 1995, Certificate of Merit

Package Design Council Certificate of Excellence in the International Gold Competition 1994

Communication Arts Award for Excellence, 1994

Society of Illustrators/Certificate of Merit, 38th Annual Exhibition

Society of Illustrators/Certificate of Merit, 36th Annual Exhibition

Society of Illustrators/Certificate of Merit, 28th Annual Exhibition

Magazines:

Nectar Magazine, feature article, April 2010

Digital Design Magazine titled ‘Brush Gestures,’ November 2002

Step by Step Electronic Design Newsletter titled ‘Carving in Color.’ July 2000

Clients include:

WSU Extension/Island County Marine Resources Committee, Full of Life Flatbread Pizza, Spartanburg History Museum, MacGraw Hill, Widmer Brothers Beer, New York Times, Franklin Library, Microsoft, Weyerhaeuser, Wall Street Journal, Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals, PCC Markets, RCA, Boston Globe, Bank of Boston, Wired Magazine, Atlantic Monthly.