Kristin Kjorlaug

Month: April 2022

  • Kimball [SOLD]

    Kimball [SOLD]

    Dorothy married Kimball—artist and engineer entwined to create a new thing that never could have existed before.

    My grandpa fixed everything on a dime and squeezed quarters out of our ears while doing it (yes, he literally pulled quarters out of my ears every time I saw him as a kid). Whatever object, he could find the problem and remedy it, ten times better.

    So when my grandmother said she wanted to etch her artwork into brass ornaments, Grandpa made the chemical etching baths, brass coaters, and buffers to create thousands of ornament and a decade of artistic business for my grandmother. 

    Her handiwork was delicate scrolls and wings, his was machinery.

    I named this piece of artwork “Kimball” to honor my grandfather and all the people like him behind the scenes. This art piece is a cohesion of artist and engineer, interweaving precision and flow. Dorothy took on Kimball’s name in marriage, the “C” hidden in the artwork is for Cummings. The union of two vastly different people enabled an artistic dream to become a reality.

    To those who support creatives and run the “machines” behind the beauty, I submit this piece of art to you. I see you. And it makes my heart sing to know that it’s hanging on the wall with someone who walked those awkward growing up years with me and supports me to this very day still.

    KK

  • Dorothy [SOLD]

    Dorothy [SOLD]

    “Name your paintings”

    they said, but naming something is one of the hardest tasks I’ve ever taken on as a human. It is also a great honor—one I will hold respectfully every time a new thing comes to life and needs naming.

    It is with great nostalgia that I begin by introducing you to a painting named “Dorothy.” Painting for me began with Dorothy, my grandmother. She was the first real artist I knew and the first to sit and paint with me for hours upon hours. She was the first to make me practice a paint stroke a hundred times and the first to introduce me to exotic names like burnt umber and raw sienna.

    This painting began with a bright red petaled flower reminiscent of my grandmother’s gorgeous red hair and firey spirit. She was power and grace. I surrounded the flower with the Norwegian Rosemaling paint strokes that she taught me. Rosemaling is an ancient folk art that Dorothy’s family brought over from Norway a generation before her. She studied the art regularly and adored her Norwegian heritage, so much so that she took on the family farm name—Kjorlaug— as her artist name.

    I used watercolor as my medium instead of the oil paint she taught me with, because I’m exploring and trying to find my art loves. Watercolor is fast becoming a favorite.

    It is a joy to know that this painting found a home January 2022.

    And so it begins…

    KK

  • A Digital Word for Physical Art

    A Digital Word for Physical Art

    It would be true to say that we’re all a little tired of words. I am.

    But put pictures with the words and I’m listening again. (Am I the only adult that still wants to read books with pictures?)

    Pictorial Art has the innate job of storytelling. This often requires some words. I can’t fully tell the story of someone else’s art but I can mine.

    As I tell the story of each piece of art, I am inviting you into my place and we’re walking around looking at the art I’ve hung on the walls—digitally or physically.

    So welcome…