My name is Kristin. I was born and raised in Minnesota, and a lot of my inspiration comes from the variety of wildlife here, which includes ducks, pheasants, deer, wild turkeys, song birds, loons, and many other native species. I graduated from the University of Minnesota in December of 2008 with a double major in art and art history. Art is my passion and, after exploring many different genres of art, I've discovered that my true loves are wood-burning and feather painting. I did my first wood-burning in 7th grade, and I've been in love with the art ever since. I did my first feather painting in February of 2009 and immediately knew it was something I should pursue.
Though I spend much of my time absorbed in my artwork or making a living at work, the spare time I do have I spend horseback riding, fishing, camping, snowmobiling, dirtbiking, and enjoying the outdoors.
If you'd like to know more, please read my question and answer:
1. How many years have you been an artist?
I don't think I can assign a certain number of years to that. Art isn't like accounting. Accountants can tell you how many years they've been accountants, but art is something that comes on gradually, often fades away, then returns many years later.
I've been doing art in some form or another since I was old enough to draw. I took art classes in school and during the summer, and drew and painted in my free time with my cheap Crayola watercolors. I was an art teacher's assistant in both middle and high school. I was accepted into the Advanced Placement art program my senior year of high school and participated in the Senior Art Show. I participated in the Minnesota State High School League's visual arts competition and won a few awards, including the People's Choice award for my series of wildlife-inspired chalk pastel drawings. After high school, I applied and was accepted into two prestigious Minnesota art colleges: the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul. A week before my classes at MCAD started, I decided I couldn't afford the $100,000 tuition for either school and went to the University of Minnesota instead. There I graduated a semester early, in December of 2008, with a double major in Art and Art History. Since then, I've been pursuing wood-burning and feather painting as my main media. So I guess that gives you a bit of an idea as to how many years I've been an artist.
2. What triggers ideas for new projects?
Most of my projects are inspired by nature and wildlife. I'm motivated by the challenge to create works of art that accurately represent the natural world. I'm also motivated by the natural materials I make my art on, like wood or feathers. I strive to preserve and intensify the beauty of a natural object with my art, not cover it up and disguise it.
3. When do ideas come to you? How often?
All the time. When I'm at work, when I'm laying in bed at night, when I'm observing works by influential artists... I'm always thinking about what I can do next to challenge, entice, and stimulate me.
4. How do you earn a living?
I work full-time in a totally non-art-related job that offers a bit of financial stability. My goal, however, is to one day be able to make a decent living off of my art.
5. What percentage of your income comes from selling your art?
I've been able to pay off a few things thanks to a huge commission, but that's not a typical scenario. Recently, any sales I make go towards gas money or rent.
6. What percentage of the day do you think about or work on your art?
I think about my art more often than I actually get a chance to work on it, unfortunately. I try to spend at least an hour or two working on it every weeknight, and usually around 5-6 hours on the weekends. But that's still not enough! Of course if it were up to me, I'd be making art 24 hours a day.
7. When you’re creating, is it difficult for you to switch over to the left side of your brain to handle everyday tasks?
Not really. I know that I tend to go into a kind of creative trance when I'm working, so I often neglect other things I should be putting thought or effort into, but if I need to stop and do something else that requires left brain thinking, I can. I multi-task quite frequently, and it's even come to the point where I need to be doing more than one thing at a time. For example, I need to have the T.V. on while I'm painting or wood-burning because I like that extra aural and visual stimulation to keep my brain active.
8. How important is it for you to create art?
Very important. If I didn't have my art, I would honestly feel like I had very little purpose in life. When people tell me that their day consisted of going to work, then coming home and vegging on the couch until bed, I think, 'Yeah, but what did you accomplish today?' Even though I don't sell a lot of my work and it just sits around the house taking up space, I still feel like I had a purpose that day. Like I've achieved something. I think, 'Today was a productive day. If I didn't have today, I wouldn't have made this painting.' It might not mean anything to anyone else, but it keeps me going day after day.
9. Would you feel fulfilled if you didn’t have art in your life?
No. Like I explained above, art gives me a purpose. Something to strive toward. The possibility of being the best someday is the challenge I need to feel like I have more to strive toward.
10. Do you get that feeling from anything else?
No. I do to a certain point, but not to that extent. For example, I'm a pretty active person. I love dirtbiking and snowmobiling, and I'm always striving to be better and stronger, but the urge isn't as strong as with art. All the things in my life make me feel fulfilled, but art has become a goal I feel obligated to achieve.
11. How long can you go without creating before it starts to affect you physically or mentally?
I usually need to do at least a little bit of art every day, or it really does affect me mentally. I get moody and a little depressed. It takes a little longer for it to affect me physically. When I go a couple weeks without creating art, I kind of have to go through a short "relearning" period that I really just see as a setback. It's not long-lived, and I usually pick it up right away, but it can be frustrating.
12. Do you feel that choosing the artist’s life has been a sacrifice? Have you given up certain luxuries?
Yes, but not materially speaking. Material wealth, for me, comes in the form of my environment. Nature, animals, the open air, the ability to be alone in a raw, natural world is what matters to me. Not cars and boats and big houses. That's not to say, however, that other sacrifices have not been made. And more are likely to ensue. I've had to selfishly horde my time to create my art when I could have been spending it with friends or family. It's put a strain on my relationships, but art is something I will never give up.
13. Do you feel like you have a choice in the matter?
Not really, no. Some people are just meant to be a certain way, like a personality trait. Art isn't a profession, it's a way of being. You can change your profession at will, find interests in other things, but you can't change who you are.
14. If you had to choose another path to pursue, rather than artist, what would it be?
I would be heartbroken if someone told me I wasn't meant to be an artist. There's nothing else I would choose. I'd be interested in being a fiction writer, but it's not something I'm greatly passionate about. And I consider writing an art in itself anyway. I'm interested in many things, but I'd never be able to put myself into it wholly. I could be a forest conservationist or a biologist, but it would just be an interesting job, not a passion.
Life is about finding happiness and fulfillment. I wouldn't be happy doing anything else.
