Artist Q&A: Kinaloon
Local Chicago artist Kinaloon’s hand silk-screened prints feel fresh, light and perfectly timed for the sunny season. We’re fortunate to carry an assortment of their herb, flower and fruit-inspired prints in our online shop, and even luckier that Barbara with Kinaloon agreed to chat with us about some of her inspirations, favorite artwork and how gardening can be like painting.
How did you get your start painting and drawing?
It's interesting to think about my start in painting and drawing because most of my recent work has been screen printed. It's a great question because I think I print like a painter.
I went to undergraduate and graduate school for painting. My two favorite school's were University of Chicago and St. John's College in New Mexico. I got an MFA from the University of Chicago which I'm super proud of because it changed my work a lot. It might not be obvious what I've taken from particular parts of my education, but I feel my change from painting to printing is something that grew out of going to UChicago. I remember my advisors were alway trying to get me to use different mediums—find the medium that fits the concept of your work. When I paint, I paint searching for the right composition and concept. I can't print searching for composition or concept, I have to decide these things before. Printing has changed both the way I think about drawing and my thought process for making my work.
How do you go about drawing flowers?
I draw a lot of flowers. Drawing something is always like a challenge...I draw things to figure out how to draw them. How do you recreate this complicated, frail, beautiful thing with only shape, line and a few flat colors? How do you keep the drawing simple with only the most important elements to describe what you are drawing?
Any spring gardening or floral tips?
I actually have no gardening tips—I'm a really bad gardener! When I first bought my bungalow, I decided to take the grass out of my backyard and make the whole backyard a garden. The garden has changed a lot over the years. At one point, I relinquished half the garden to my husband for a vegetable garden. Then when we both got busy and the garden got neglected and overgrown with weeds.
Last year, we decided to turn the garden into a bee and butterfly garden. It seems as long as the garden has some purpose besides just being beautiful flowers, Nate, my husband is on board. I haven't mastered the butterfly/bee garden just yet but I've learned a lot from researching what makes a good butterfly and bee garden. We get excited when we now see monarchs in the garden!
I feel like I garden like I paint, I continue to move things around the garden. I plant and replant flowers until either they grow well or look good compositionally together. At the moment, I am obsessed with getting icelandic poppies to grow in my garden.
Where do you go to find inspiration?
A lot of times it comes from something that's odd or out of place that has caught my eye. Or just the question, how would I draw that?
Any favorite artists or artwork?
Recently, I've fallen in love with Corita Kent's silkscreens. Last October I was hoping to make it to Austria to see a Corita Kent exhibit. Obviously, I couldn't make it to the exhibit but it’s something I hope to do in the future!
Ready to bring the outdoors in with a little Kinaloon magic? Shop our selection of their hand silk-screened prints, along with other local artists, in our online shop. When you’re ready to get it up on your walls, check out our Kinda Custom service.