Artists From The Mill At Shady Lea

#MeettheArtist
Meet Kim Triedman

Tell us your artist story, some biographical info, when did you decide to be an artist? Why do you make art? Where did you study? Etc.

I was a writer (published poet and novelist) before I became involved in visual art. My earliest memories of being artistic are of writing poetry. My art, like my writing, has a strong narrative bent. I began working in collage and mixed media as a way to further indulge my fascination with story.

I have no formal training, but I have always been a maker.  I found myself moving into visual art gradually over the past five years or so  I have always loved putting odd things together to come up with something entirely different.  It feels very much like writing a poem to me – allowing your subconscious to make connections and following them down a serpentine path.  Both my mother and my daughter are trained artists, and both have inspired me greatly over the years.      

I have always loved old things, and I create most of my artworks out of found and recycled objects.  Many of my mixed media pieces make use of old, wooden window sashes, which serve as frame and template but also conceptual springboard.  For me they offer a particularly rich and exploitable template: like sudden and unexpected purviews, they open us to juxtapositions in search of a narrative thread.  They make of us voyeurs, unwitting or not, of both the world around us and, ultimately, of ourselves.   

Collage is at the heart of most of my work.  My imagination tilts to the odd and visually arresting detail.  Compositions are drawn from places I have known, sometimes through memory but mostly from my own photography.  My palette is often muted, though - like life - shot through with small urgencies of color."    

What do you want people to walk away with after experiencing your work? 

It seems to me that the artist provides a kind of prism to the world — a unique way of looking at what is already there, whether it be an internal truth or an external reality.  I would hope that my work offers some of that, and that it challenges the viewer to consider what emerges when disparate things are put together in new and provocative ways.

What influences your work? Why? 

As I’ve mentioned, my work has a strong narrative element. It has also been referred to as “feminist,” although that is not by design or deliberation. I generally don’t have a clue what each piece will be or why or what it means until I finish it. It’s an exceedingly organic experience. I use a combination of my own photography, vintage photographs, fine handmade papers, and random found objects in my work.  For inspiration I tend to sit with images and others materials surrounding me until one thing begins to “speak” with another.  Once I find that spark of conversation, I’m off.

What does it mean to you to participate in Hera an exhibiting artist for the In God We Trust exhibition?

  

I recently went to see Todd Bartel and Jack Masse’s amazing collage exhibit at Hera.  Though I’ve known about the gallery for a few years, it was my first time actually visiting the space.  I was thoroughly impressed.  It was an extremely good exhibition -- well displayed, and well promoted – and I am extremely happy to be included in this upcoming show.  This piece seemed ready-made for the theme: it floats iconical Garden of Eden imagery in a soup of contemporary cynicism. 

To see more of Kim's work visit her website: http://www.kimtriedman.com/