Kendra E. Carlson

-- A record of my work --

[kendraec]

-It’s been a while-

After almost 2 years of being in New Zealand, I feel that I am finally in a place that will whole heartedly support my work and growth as an artist.

The next few weeks and ideally, months, will hopefully house an extensive output for me, I aim to create as much as I can and explore as many interesting avenues of my mind and it’s creational aspects as I can.

I do strongly believe that even the most creative person is still very much in the mercy of the space they inhabit. A good surrounding, somewhere that can truly make you feel happy and safe, is the optimal space for creatives. Sadly those places are so few and far between for those who rely so heavily on their emotionally driven mind. 

[kendraec]

Again, I revisit with a photo dump of all my most recent works.

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New Zealand has been a time of re-discovery. I’ve found that I love abstract pieces but am always drawn back to more figurative work.

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My more recent studies (my wip, that aren’t shown here) are becoming more gestural in the sense that a form can be recognized and therefore not taken as a completely abstract space.

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[kendraec]

Long time no update!

It’s been a long while, but I am aiming to utilize this blog a lot more in the upcoming months-and-years. 

The transition to New Zealand has really impacted my productivity and research; I honestly can’t tell if its a good thing or not. The work itself has gotten very saturated color-wise and has continued to be more abstract than what I’m used to, that's for sure. 

 Here are a few of the pieces i’ve actually managed to document! 

While the finished work I've completed lately is fine, I haven't been creating nearly as much as I’d have liked, I find that I am honestly so all over the place creativity wise, I get bursts of creativity from time to time, but its very few and far between.

(Please ignore WIP documentation, still trying to find a suitable area to get the proper lighting)

www.kendracarlson.com

Kendra Carlson Art

[kendraec]

This past year has been such a learning curve, I’ve started creating these works that I would have never even approached before hand. I’ve said many times that painting is not my favourite medium but having the ability to add a sculptural component to my work has really livened up the process for me. 

These abstract pieces have really started a new artistic journey for me.

- #1 ‘Evergreen Haze’ - 2018 -SOLD-

- #2 ‘Accidental Crescent moon’ - 2018 -SOLD-

- #3 ‘Tree Bark Landscape’ - 2018 -SOLD-

Any available work will be listed at : https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/KendraCarlsonArt?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

[kendraec]

It’s an eventful day for me!

I’ve decided to open an Etsy store! Here are just a few snapshots of the work I’ve created over the last few month, all will be up for sale within the week!

[kendraec]

Hello! it’s been a long hard winter, cold and uninspiring, but i have made steps to actually document the few things i have been creating! This little snapshot is my little documentation set up today, we make due with what we can. I shall prevail, no matter how finicky my ancient camera is today!

[kendraec]

Happy Friday the thirteenth! It's officially fall for me up here in northwestern Ontario, so I'm in my prime happy place. Over the past few months, since being home, I've realized that the stagnation our professors warned us about is a very real thing. I've struggled to feel creative all summer and yet some how, my uncle commissioning me for a mural, brought it back. (I am in no way a painter, I've always considered myself a sculptor) So this is the extent of my production this summer, even though I only started it a few months ago. Painting has never been my go to medium when it comes to my personal expression but I'm so happy with it because I actually feel like I've finished something. I know I have to get back out on the island and take some proper documentation photos but I just wanted to post this little rant to help any other artist out there. Lulls will happen, but some of the most satisfying art comes from periods of stagnation.

[kendraec]

Late night tension problems... in a real space this would be easy, but with a makeshift frame it's a little more difficult.

[kendraec]

Trying out an idea that I had and I'm kind of loving it. :D

[kendraec]

I've been working a lot with weaving with yarn lately... I'm thinking I want to go back to transparent materials, I always forget the kind of multiplicity or repetition that it adds to my work. I'd love to incorporate this into some of my more 3D works.

[kendraec]

'Untitled' - Kendra Carlson The three prints of my most recent project. Not a true installation of the prints so I apologize for the quality.

[kendraec]

- Portraits of Their Compendium Tithe, 2016. Mixed Media - 

“A lot can be said about a person through the items that they leave behind: Where someone has been, how they got there, why they went, what they did, or even with whom. These collections are portraits of the people who were tasked with paying attention to the items that they interacted with as they went about their days. The items reference their movement through time and their experiences as an individual. The resulting complications render the participants and their habits, memories and behaviours through the debris of their lives.

Being from north-western Ontario, I grew up immersed in a culture not my own, which had a significant impact on my upbringing; due to this interrelation I’ve found it difficult to orient myself and my practice has therefore developed to focus around issues of displacement, preservation and personal and societal identity. My pieces aim to isolate and accentuate key abstractions related to each material that I utilize in my works. Through a focus on disregarded materials of the modern world, my work discusses resolved issues of consumerism and globalization in Canada and the effects on the people within.”

- Kendra Carlson, 2016

Im finally getting around to posting these images from my final piece from last years Grad Show. 

[kendraec]

A few shots of my WIP for grad show!

- Kendra Carlson

[kendraec]

Sneaky Peeky.

Wip for my final piece... its been a long road coming

I’m sticking with ideas of preservation and self reflection.

[kendraec]

Reflect, 2015  -  [A/I], 2016

A few proper installation photos from the last exhibition this piece was in, including some detail shots. I revisited this piece for a group exhibition, curated for class, we titled it [A/I] referring to a common theme seen in our works, Referring to Illusion and Allusion and the various ways we utilize them to bring focus to each of our specific concepts.

[kendraec]

- Chokecherry, 2015

My final piece of the year (before installation) and I'm loving the direction my work is taking.

[kendraec]

- Reflect, 2015

 My final piece for my sculpture and media class. This year the basis of my work has developed into the exploration of what I see, as my own culture; I’ve been striving to find a place where I believe I belong in the mix. This piece was meant as a mediator, an expression into the conscious knowledge of appropriation within ‘white’ northern Ontario culture. My aim was to express my connection with a culture, not my own, but one that I grew up in close correlation to, while bringing light to the process of 'preserving,’ that much of western assimilated cultures have preformed onto those of Canadian aboriginals.

 I know this work is tricky to express, as many believe I should not be focusing on a culture that I do not belong to. However, I find that, for many Canadian children, of long and diluted cultural backgrounds, we have nowhere left to turn. We know the cultures that were here when our ancestors first arrived are not our own, but we no longer have any connection to the 'old’ countries or cultures and are at a loss as to how to position ourselves, in the country we were born in.