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Working at the intersections of painting and photography, Kim Anderson’s work engages various representational systems including figurative and still-life painting, vernacular photography, home movies, and the twin imagery of stereoscopy. Born in San Francisco and raised on O‘ahu, Anderson is an artist and educator residing in Bradenton, Florida. Her paintings have been exhibited regionally and nationally including at the Tampa Museum of Art; Site:Brooklyn Gallery in Brooklyn, New York; and Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was a 2023 recipient of the HALO Artist Fellowship in Sarasota, Florida, a finalist for both the Manifest Creative Research Gallery’s Grand Jury Prize and Annual Manifest Prize, and a recipient of the Ringling/Tower Artist Fellowship with the Sarasota Arts Council. Her work has been featured in publications including New American Paintings, Studio Visit Magazine, Create! Magazine, UNC Asheville's 12th Annual Drawing Discourse, and Manifest Creative Research and Gallery INPA and MEA. She earned an MFA from the University of Florida and BFA from California College of the Arts. Currently, she holds the position of Professor of Art at New College of Florida where she has taught since 2004.Working at the intersections of painting and photography Kim Anderson’s work engages various representational systems including figurative and still-life painting, vernacular photography, home movies, and the twin imagery of stereoscopy. Born in San Francisco and raised on O‘ahu, Anderson is an artist and educator residing in Bradenton, Florida. Her paintings have been exhibited regionally and nationally including at the Tampa Museum of Art; Site:Brooklyn Gallery in Brooklyn, New York; and Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was a 2023 recipient of the HALO Artist Fellowship in Sarasota, Florida, a finalist for both the Manifest Creative Research Gallery’s Grand Jury Prize and Annual Manifest Prize, and a recipient of the Ringling/Tower Artist Fellowship with the Sarasota Arts Council. Her work has been featured in publications including New American Paintings, Studio Visit Magazine, Create! Magazine, UNC Asheville's 12th Annual Drawing Discourse, and Manifest Creative Research and Gallery INPA and MEA. She earned an MFA from the University of Florida and BFA from California College of the Arts. Currently, she holds the position of Professor of Art at New College of Florida where she has taught since 2004.
Published on April 1st, 2025. Artist responses collected in months previous.
Talk about some of the logistics of your art practice. What systems do you have in place to help streamline your workflows?
I’m not sure if I have figured out a successful workflow, as it changes from year to year, or day to day. I have a limited time during the workweek between teaching and parenting so my time is fairly structured. While I do enjoy a little bit of chaos, overall, I try to focus on what I need to accomplish within a specified time period. I manage a series of smaller projects while working on a larger, extended project. I set deadlines at different intervals, even if they are hypothetical. It helps to feel like there is an end goal. Recently I’ve been enjoying working between printmaking and painting, each process requiring a different type of organization. Planning for a printmaking project can be more piecemeal, while painting requires longer stretches of time. Then there is time that needs to be dedicated to packing, shipping or delivering artwork, applying to grants or exhibitions, arranging studio visits, etc. Sometimes it is easier to compartmentalize these activities by dedicating a full week to one activity over another as they all require a different type of mental workload.
What is some advice for someone who does not have any experience who would like to pursue a career like yours?
Looking back over the years, in hindsight, there are things I may have done differently. I think “success” has as much to do with recognizing and harnessing opportunities when they present themselves, being willing to take risks, and building a network early on. Also, I have had to set realistic goals for myself by understanding and working within my economic limits. I heard advice once about the advantages of working outside of large art centers which continues to resonate with me. This came from someone living in the middle of the country who was able to build a robust art career in a smaller geographic region. Smaller communities can offer artists the advantage of a lower cost of living, allowing more time to develop work, gain access to affordable studio space, and downtime to restore and reflect. With the cost of living going up everywhere, but more so in trendy, urban areas, it has become even more imperative for some artists to establish themselves in communities outside of traditional art centers. When opportunity is tied to economic advantage art becomes elitist, alienating certain groups or individuals.
What was the lowest point in your art career and how did you overcome those adversities?
I think I might be living my most challenging year now. Three hurricanes and ongoing political turmoil at the college where I teach has contributed to a few setbacks. For me, it has been important to adapt and to find new ways of overcome obstacles. Some of my most successful years were directly out of graduate school, but I was less experienced and felt a lot of pressure to continue making the things that were financially viable for others. With some distance from that pressure, I have been able to immerse myself in my own areas of research, dedicating more time to developing and pursuing the things that interest me. You cannot keep making the same work over and over, and I feel like we should allow artists to evolve and devolve in ways that respond to the outside world or their own needs. During a visit to another artist’s studio, I was encouraged by her message to stay the course. She is a very established figurative painter, who spent many years painting the figure when it was unpopular. Eventually, the things she was painting seemed relevant for the particular historical moment and her career catapulted.
How did you come into the type of artwork you are doing now?
That is a great question. It's been a long, organic journey. I didn’t set out thinking I would be making the work I am making now, and couldn’t have imagined this is what I would be doing when I started. I think I do aim to synthesize my interests inside and outside of the studio. Could I live with my paintings? Do they reflect my values and daily activities? How can I extend my studio into may daily life? I am interested in the lives and histories of women artists and muses. I also spend a lot of time collecting vernacular photographic images, cameras, and objects. I found a way to connect these seemingly disjointed interests with my love of painting. I also enjoy learning about the history of photographic conventions like stereoscopy, and wondered if I could combine this historically lowbrow art form with painting. Stereoscopy also mirrored my personal life as a twin parent. The twinning of the image became increasingly interesting to me in an almost uncanny type of way. All of a sudden, I found myself replicating everything I was doing and this became somewhat meditative. Through stereoscopy, science, art and life converged.
What was an epiphany in your art practice that took you to the next level?
I am still waiting for an epiphany, and that is what keeps me going! Or maybe I have had a few smaller epiphanies that keep me going. Like getting just the right combination of medium to paint so that the edges can be softened in one motion. Or creating the perfect ground which is impossible to create again. Arriving at a composition effortlessly, as if it made itself, and then struggling to achieve that feeling again. Reconciling an idea as a visual expression. Studio sustainability is about building on many micro-epiphanies in order to avoid stagnation.
Talk about some of the logistics of your art practice. What systems do you have in place to help streamline your workflows?
I’m not sure if I have figured out a successful workflow, as it changes from year to year, or day to day. I have a limited time during the workweek between teaching and parenting so my time is fairly structured. While I do enjoy a little bit of chaos, overall, I try to focus on what I need to accomplish within a specified time period. I manage a series of smaller projects while working on a larger, extended project. I set deadlines at different intervals, even if they are hypothetical. It helps to feel like there is an end goal. Recently I’ve been enjoying working between printmaking and painting, each process requiring a different type of organization. Planning for a printmaking project can be more piecemeal, while painting requires longer stretches of time. Then there is time that needs to be dedicated to packing, shipping or delivering artwork, applying to grants or exhibitions, arranging studio visits, etc. Sometimes it is easier to compartmentalize these activities by dedicating a full week to one activity over another as they all require a different type of mental workload.
What is some advice for someone who does not have any experience who would like to pursue a career like yours?
Looking back over the years, in hindsight, there are things I may have done differently. I think “success” has as much to do with recognizing and harnessing opportunities when they present themselves, being willing to take risks, and building a network early on. Also, I have had to set realistic goals for myself by understanding and working within my economic limits. I heard advice once about the advantages of working outside of large art centers which continues to resonate with me. This came from someone living in the middle of the country who was able to build a robust art career in a smaller geographic region. Smaller communities can offer artists the advantage of a lower cost of living, allowing more time to develop work, gain access to affordable studio space, and downtime to restore and reflect. With the cost of living going up everywhere, but more so in trendy, urban areas, it has become even more imperative for some artists to establish themselves in communities outside of traditional art centers. When opportunity is tied to economic advantage art becomes elitist, alienating certain groups or individuals.
What was the lowest point in your art career and how did you overcome those adversities?
I think I might be living my most challenging year now. Three hurricanes and ongoing political turmoil at the college where I teach has contributed to a few setbacks. For me, it has been important to adapt and to find new ways of overcome obstacles. Some of my most successful years were directly out of graduate school, but I was less experienced and felt a lot of pressure to continue making the things that were financially viable for others. With some distance from that pressure, I have been able to immerse myself in my own areas of research, dedicating more time to developing and pursuing the things that interest me. You cannot keep making the same work over and over, and I feel like we should allow artists to evolve and devolve in ways that respond to the outside world or their own needs. During a visit to another artist’s studio, I was encouraged by her message to stay the course. She is a very established figurative painter, who spent many years painting the figure when it was unpopular. Eventually, the things she was painting seemed relevant for the particular historical moment and her career catapulted.
How did you come into the type of artwork you are doing now?
That is a great question. It's been a long, organic journey. I didn’t set out thinking I would be making the work I am making now, and couldn’t have imagined this is what I would be doing when I started. I think I do aim to synthesize my interests inside and outside of the studio. Could I live with my paintings? Do they reflect my values and daily activities? How can I extend my studio into may daily life? I am interested in the lives and histories of women artists and muses. I also spend a lot of time collecting vernacular photographic images, cameras, and objects. I found a way to connect these seemingly disjointed interests with my love of painting. I also enjoy learning about the history of photographic conventions like stereoscopy, and wondered if I could combine this historically lowbrow art form with painting. Stereoscopy also mirrored my personal life as a twin parent. The twinning of the image became increasingly interesting to me in an almost uncanny type of way. All of a sudden, I found myself replicating everything I was doing and this became somewhat meditative. Through stereoscopy, science, art and life converged.
What was an epiphany in your art practice that took you to the next level?
I am still waiting for an epiphany, and that is what keeps me going! Or maybe I have had a few smaller epiphanies that keep me going. Like getting just the right combination of medium to paint so that the edges can be softened in one motion. Or creating the perfect ground which is impossible to create again. Arriving at a composition effortlessly, as if it made itself, and then struggling to achieve that feeling again. Reconciling an idea as a visual expression. Studio sustainability is about building on many micro-epiphanies in order to avoid stagnation.
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