Meet Catherine Kirkland

Today we’d like to introduce you to Catherine Kirkland.

Hi Catherine, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
Thank you, VoyageKC, for this opportunity to share my story!

Most artists will tell you that they have loved art and creativity since childhood. I am no different. Throughout my education, I took every art class available in high school. As a Studio Art major at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, I studied illustration, painting in oil and acrylic, ceramic and metal sculpture, theater set design, and film language. I also explored photography, digital media, and film/video art direction and production through independent study. This pursuit of all things creative prepared me well for my career in applied arts in advertising, publishing, and newspaper syndication.

After college, I worked for sixteen years in advertising as an award-winning art director, illustrator, production artist, and graphic designer, and then another sixteen in publishing as a production coordination manager. Print production coordination was, at the time, considered a “man’s” position. It required good math skills and involved working in large print shops with pressmen and pre-production crews at separation houses who created the films and plates for printing. I was one of only six women in town at the time who worked in this capacity and felt proud to hold my own among my peers, both men, and women. The knowledge gained in graphic arts and print production purchasing would prove valuable to me later as a visual artist.

One of the first tasks assigned after being hired was to bring our creative department graphic artists into the computer age. I specified equipment and software and developed guidelines and workflows to do this. Later, I directed the development of a proprietary, searchable database to the catalog of all the comic strips and content created by the talent this enterprise offered—more valuable experience to apply later.

One of the best parts of working for the publisher/newspaper syndicate was being surrounded by amazing creatives: editors, in-house designers, art directors, and content creators. You may recognize some of the names: Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes), Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury), Dear Abby, Gary Larson (Far Side), Jim Davis (Garfield), Scott Adams (Dilbert), and so many others. What inspiration!

One of the last projects I was involved in at the publisher was the “Preserving Creative America” project. This project was part of the Library of Congress National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program or NDIIPP Strategic Initiative. My primary involvement with the Library of Congress was coordinating the transfer of images and data of the Doonesbury comic strips and Pat Oliphant political cartoons to the Library of Congress collection from the proprietary, searchable database, which I directed the creation of for Andrews McMeel Universal.

As part of the broader “Preserving Creative America” project, I met, presented to, and worked alongside executives, creatives, and technical professionals from a broad spectrum of creative industries, including The Recording Academy (Grammy), Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (Oscars), Walt Disney Company, Getty Images, Warner Bros Studio, Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures and more, to create standards for preserving digital creative works. Fast forward to 2009. The economy was in turmoil. The newspaper industry was steeply declining due to the growth of the Internet. I was “right-sized” out of the company in June. With the economy shedding jobs by the hundreds of thousands weekly, I had few prospects to replace the salary and position I had enjoyed.

After a month of job search, outbound placement counseling, and self-reflection, I returned to college full-time and pursued a degree in Interior Design. In one of the classes, the spark to paint was rekindled. At first, I painted small 11”x14” landscapes. As my confidence grew so did my canvases, with my largest works on 48”x60”surfaces. Next, I learned all I could about the art community and artist opportunities in the KC metro. In doing so, I rediscovered the joy of making, showing, and selling art, and by 2013, I decided to make that my full-time business.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

Making a huge change in careers, especially after 35 years in the same industry, is never easy. With my fine arts education and experience in creative industries, I was very lucky to have acquired many valuable skills that I could utilize in my new endeavors. However, I discovered my fine arts education didn’t prepare me for the “business” of art. To address this gap, I was delighted to discover ArtistINC, an organization in KC that provides basic business courses for artists. I attended workshops and seminars and learned a lot! InterUrban Art House also offers valuable workshops and features speakers to help artists with such things as taxes, record-keeping and more. I am grateful for these resources.

With new information providing a good foundation of basic art business practices, my next challenge was to find a unique style to differentiate my work from others. There is so much talent in the KC visual art community! After that, I needed to figure out which art path to follow to find buyers for my work.

Gallery representation? Galleries are difficult to get into, commissions are significant and you must keep creating in the same niche; the gallery wants consistency and productivity. All understandable.

Museum path? Even more difficult to get into than with galleries. Commercial art and commissioned work? Did that for years.

Art Fairs and Festivals? Way too much work and investment for this old gal! I admire those that do, but not for me.

Art Exhibition route? Submitting work to art calls, group shows and proposing solo shows to various venues.

It did take me about a year to figure all of this out, and after surveying the many opportunities in the KC Metro, I chose the art exhibition route, in which I submit works to group shows and also proposals for solo shows in various venues locally and regionally.

Plus, I continue to develop other ways to apply my art on products, prints and animations. Create once. Sell many.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I had my “aha” moment in 2014. At the time, I was still seeking inspiration as I worked on my unique expression, and decided to take a trip to Denver. During this visit, I discovered the abstract art of the late Colorado-based artist Vance Kirkland (no known relation). Inspired by his unconventional techniques and pointillist artworks, my representational painting style shifted toward the convergence of outer space, abstract painting, and dots (pointillism). In this intersection, I found my voice as an artist and gained customers and fans.

Pointillist paintings are quite labor intensive, and, in addition to patience, they require a keen understanding of color and design. Hence, few contemporary artists create in this style. Luckily, my former graphic designer and production artist work prepared me for this particular form of expression.

My paintings are acrylic on canvas, created with brushes and unconventional tools like dowels, skewers, chopsticks, forks, and spoons. Favoring vibrant, cheerful colors and intricate patterns, I strive to bring the viewer a sense of joy and wonder. I delight in watching exhibit guests take in my art from afar, then draw closer and react with amazement as they discover the dots that make up the images. After discovering my niche as an abstract pointillist artist, I looked for ways to expand my art “brand” to products. Once a painting is completed, I take it to a local business to have it professionally imaged.

The high-quality, high-resolution digital images are what I use to create custom giclée prints, as well as greeting and note cards. These digital images are also suited to licensing out, as I did with House of Helmet and creating animations for corporate screens. Putting my graphic design skills to work, I also created an online storefront and designed hundreds of products, from mugs to skateboards, that feature my art.

In addition to delighting the viewers and collectors of my art, I most treasure the process of creativity. As an art director, I learned how to switch on the creative right brain through doodles, browsing art books, space photos online, or walking in nature. Sometimes, an idea occurs to me unexpectedly, so I have sketchbooks in my living room and studio to capture an idea in a quick sketch. Later, I will flip through these sketches when looking for an idea for a painting. Bringing an idea into reality as a tangible work of art is immensely fulfilling.

My new five-year plan is focused on simplifying. I recently closed a public studio at The Lofts to consolidate art-making in my home studio. In the future, I am refocusing my studio efforts by adding primarily to three style collections: Space Series, Hard-edge Abstracts, and Zorn palette series.Another new, exciting direction involves animating some of my space paintings for use on screens and licensing my art images to others for commercial projects.

We are indeed a sum of all our experiences. I can truly say that I am grateful for all of the jobs I have had throughout my professional career. It was while working and learning from others, that I built skill sets which now enable me to do all that I am doing with my art today.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in the Waldo area. In 1979, I moved to the Kansas side of the Metro, living first in Shawnee, and now in Lenexa. It was wonderful to discover that the City of Lenexa and the Lenexa Arts Council are strong supporters of art and local artists. In fact, a 2018 solo show in the Lenexa City Hall Gallery, provided a fantastic opportunity for me to meet a local developer working with the city on a development project. This developer ultimately purchased several of my originals and over 50 prints which were installed in his multi-use property in the new city center! In addition to being displayed throughout the building, my art is featured on the 40′ metal banners over the entrance and in graphics in other building areas. I proudly say that I have the “largest art” in Lenexa!Another business in the Lenexa city center that features my art work is Revocup. This delightful coffee shop allows me to manage their walls as my own gallery, rotating work every quarter or so.

I love where I live!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kirklandcreativeart.com
• Instagram: @kirklandcreativeart
• Facebook: @ArtbyCatherine
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherinekirkland/
• Other: https://linktr.ee/kirklandcreativeart

Image Credits
Portrait and Lofts signage © CT Thongklin Photography Art images © Catherine Kirkland Fashion Photo © Side of Glam. Photography by LFTM Photography.