Carlee WrightSalem-raised artist Kristin Kuhns is driven to create “by a vision that invigorates a state of hopeful creativity.”
“That’s everything in my life; the state of hopeful creativity,” she said.
Working in two- and three-dimensional mixed media, from painting and drawings to clay and sculpture, Kristin explores the world around us.
Since 2005, her focus has been on issues of land use and how we interact with land.
“We’ve consumed land, used land, taken comfort in land. We’ve shown hubris and humility. I’ve tried to engage in a dialogue on those topics,” she said.
“Prior to 2020, my work had focused on some large commission projects so I had not been working small in some time. Then the isolation of the pandemic came, which fed into my natural tendencies towards introspection.”
The result of that introspection can be seen in her exhibition, Woven Journals, which is currently on display at Level 2 Gallery at Salem Convention Center.
Woven Journals is a collection of mixed media studio work inspired by the regular walks Kristin and her family take through Minto Brown Park. Using photos captured while outdoors, combined with materials from her studio space topped with pencil notes and sewing machine stitches, familiar elements merge with a subtext of living during a global pandemic.
“This sense of familiar yet unfamiliar became central to this series,” said Kristin. “My mom, 98, lives alone and is a weaver. During the pandemic, I found myself helping her to set up her loom, tying on new warp to the existing. The theme of weaving as a construction method and as a way of co-mingling more than one concept came into focus. Weaving together coexisting yet strongly contrasting settings, thoughts, feelings or elements made sense as a manner of solving or tending to the ‘problem’ at hand.”
If Minto Brown Park did not exist, my relationship to here would be quite different, terribly lacking. Many years of running, biking, walking, drawing, painting, taking dogs who are gone now and children who have grown — we have a long relationship, the park and I.
In addition to her work on exhibit at Level 2 Gallery, you will find Kristin’s creativity front and center at the Salem Public Library as the forestlike entryway leading to the children’s area.
Soon, it will also be on display in the Library’s Art Hall on the first floor. Like Level 2, this gallery is also under the purview of the Oregon Artist Series Foundation.
A prolific artist, Kristin’s work is held in numerous major collections, including at Salem Hospital and Salem Convention Center. Learn more about Kristin at https://kristinkuhnsstudio.com.
This story originally ran in Press Play Salem issue 13 (Spring 2022)
Image: Kristin Kuhns Distorted Peripheral 2022 mixed media
The Instigator
