Kim Anderson is an artist and educator residing in Bradenton, Florida. She holds the position of Professor of Art at New College of Florida, where she has taught since 2004. She earned an MFA from the University of Florida and BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts. Her work examines intersections between painting and photography where she explores 19th century cinematic antecedents, vintage home movies, and the carnivalesque magic of stereoscopy against our present screen-based obsessions. Located in the afterlife of thrift store novelties and vernacular photography, her paintings reimagine new fictions from found objects, amateur photography, and the traces of things left behind. Her work celebrates women as practitioners and subjects within the various histories of painting. Her work has been exhibited nationally and featured in publications including New American Paintings, Studio Visit Magazine, Create! Magazine, and Manifest INPA and MEA.
Published on May 19th, 2022. Artist responses collected in months previous.
What are you currently excited about in your art practice?
My family and I recently returned from a cross-country road trip, which has me thinking more about the landscape, land use, and ideas related to the picturesque and the sublime. This also has me thinking about the history of lenticular devices that artists have employed in picturing landscape imagery. I’ve been experimenting with some lens and mirror-based tools. I built a camera obscura and a small Claude glass from common household objects to take with me on the trip and am excited by the haunting images that these instruments generate. We had the opportunity to visit the Grand Canyon where architect Mary Colter installed her Reflectoscopes along the southern rim. These are Claude glass-like devices used to view the canyon from different perspectives.
What were some of the challenges you faced last year as an artist? Was your work/ art practice affected by the pandemic this year, if so how?
Finding dedicated studio time is an ongoing challenge. I’m also a parent and an art professor, so there was a lot of recalibrating this year. I taught exclusively online last year, which offered some exciting new possibilities for teaching but was extremely challenging as well. Much of my time went towards teaching and after 20 years, I felt like a new teacher all over again. Professionally, while there were some postponements and cancellations, I was fortunate to have a few deadlines to keep me going including a group exhibition at the Tampa Museum of Art.
What does a typical day in the studio (or wherever you're making work) look like for you these days? What time of day are you at your studio, what are your studio must haves (ex: music, coffee, tools, etc), and what does your creative space look like?
My day can be pretty choppy, but I generally try to carve out 3-hour blocks of time during the week. I used to work a lot in the evening, but after kids I had to restructure my time in order to get things done during the day. I usually settle into the studio with a podcast, music which I stream, or NPR. My studio is a mess and I’m often jumping between different projects I have going so that I don’t get bored. There is always something half-finished that I can pick up later if I run into a roadblock somewhere else.
What resources for artists have you found helpful that may be helpful for other artists?
I’m not sure I have any new resources, but find listening to podcasts like The Conversation: An Artists Podcast, I Like Your Work, or Radiolab provides ideas both in and outside of the arts. I’m always looking out for new opportunities. I try to regularly scan CCA, InLiquid and NYFA for exhibitions and grant opportunities. While I don’t have time to pursue residencies, I like to browse the Artist Communities Alliance to see what is available.
Finding ways to integrate my creative work into busy days where I don’t have time to be in the studio is also important. Color palette apps like Color Collect, Muzli or Pantone let me build new palettes and Camera+2 is handy when I don’t have my DSLR with me. I’m also trying to catch up with my students and brush up on my digital skills and have been trying to learn Procreate
What in your art career are you looking forward to in the upcoming year? Do you have any specific goals or projects in mind?
I am extremely fortunate and grateful to be teaching at a small liberal arts college that offers a semester research leave to faculty every six years. Next semester I qualify for a leave and plan to start some new paintings that have been in the back of my mind. I’m excited and a little anxious at the same time. I feel like this is going to be the year of new starts. I have about three projects that I plan to begin, although one is something that I revisit from time to time. I tend to work on series in cycles, rather than finish something all in one block of time.
What are you currently excited about in your art practice?
My family and I recently returned from a cross-country road trip, which has me thinking more about the landscape, land use, and ideas related to the picturesque and the sublime. This also has me thinking about the history of lenticular devices that artists have employed in picturing landscape imagery. I’ve been experimenting with some lens and mirror-based tools. I built a camera obscura and a small Claude glass from common household objects to take with me on the trip and am excited by the haunting images that these instruments generate. We had the opportunity to visit the Grand Canyon where architect Mary Colter installed her Reflectoscopes along the southern rim. These are Claude glass-like devices used to view the canyon from different perspectives.
What were some of the challenges you faced last year as an artist? Was your work/ art practice affected by the pandemic this year, if so how?
Finding dedicated studio time is an ongoing challenge. I’m also a parent and an art professor, so there was a lot of recalibrating this year. I taught exclusively online last year, which offered some exciting new possibilities for teaching but was extremely challenging as well. Much of my time went towards teaching and after 20 years, I felt like a new teacher all over again. Professionally, while there were some postponements and cancellations, I was fortunate to have a few deadlines to keep me going including a group exhibition at the Tampa Museum of Art.
What does a typical day in the studio (or wherever you're making work) look like for you these days? What time of day are you at your studio, what are your studio must haves (ex: music, coffee, tools, etc), and what does your creative space look like?
My day can be pretty choppy, but I generally try to carve out 3-hour blocks of time during the week. I used to work a lot in the evening, but after kids I had to restructure my time in order to get things done during the day. I usually settle into the studio with a podcast, music which I stream, or NPR. My studio is a mess and I’m often jumping between different projects I have going so that I don’t get bored. There is always something half-finished that I can pick up later if I run into a roadblock somewhere else.
What resources for artists have you found helpful that may be helpful for other artists?
I’m not sure I have any new resources, but find listening to podcasts like The Conversation: An Artists Podcast, I Like Your Work, or Radiolab provides ideas both in and outside of the arts. I’m always looking out for new opportunities. I try to regularly scan CCA, InLiquid and NYFA for exhibitions and grant opportunities. While I don’t have time to pursue residencies, I like to browse the Artist Communities Alliance to see what is available.
Finding ways to integrate my creative work into busy days where I don’t have time to be in the studio is also important. Color palette apps like Color Collect, Muzli or Pantone let me build new palettes and Camera+2 is handy when I don’t have my DSLR with me. I’m also trying to catch up with my students and brush up on my digital skills and have been trying to learn Procreate
What in your art career are you looking forward to in the upcoming year? Do you have any specific goals or projects in mind?
I am extremely fortunate and grateful to be teaching at a small liberal arts college that offers a semester research leave to faculty every six years. Next semester I qualify for a leave and plan to start some new paintings that have been in the back of my mind. I’m excited and a little anxious at the same time. I feel like this is going to be the year of new starts. I have about three projects that I plan to begin, although one is something that I revisit from time to time. I tend to work on series in cycles, rather than finish something all in one block of time.
Find Kim Anderson on Instagram