Kim Grall

Artists’s Statement

Over the years my work has gone through many changes as I discovered and experimented with new materials, responded to the process and was inspired with new ideas. My love of Earth is the one constant and remains at the center of all that I do. The materials I work with now are almost all found in nature; from the beeswax and damar crystals I use in my encaustic medium, the cordage I make from various plants, the leaves and seedpods I dry, the dyes I make, the handmade papers and much more including the gourds I grow from seed. Bound to Earth by my passion for it, the awe and reverence I feel is reflected through my work. The intent of each piece is to pass on that vision in the hopes it will spark or reenforce a similar feeling in the person viewing it. I want them to be able to hold a bit of our Earth and wonder at its magnificence.

Artists’s Statement on working with encaustic

I have been making my way towards using only materials found in nature and have gotten one step closer to that goal by introducing encaustic techniques to my gourd work. I make the medium myself from beeswax and damar resin. It takes the place of manmade glues and varnishes and creates a very different look to my gourds. I've also been using natural dyes along with handmade papers for color. Coffee grounds and ground turmeric are examples and aside from the color they produce, you can smell themas well as the beeswax. My work now encompasses three senses; sight, touch and smell. An experience to connect with earth by holding some of it in your hands.

Biography

Kim Grall is an artist working in a diverse array of mediums and techniques, including paper, fiber, leather, photography, printmaking, and pyrography.  Grall’s current work uses gourds as both a sculptural object and as a substrate for the artist’s toolbox of materials.  The gourds Grall uses are grown by the artist, seen through their entire life cycle intentioned to become art.  Through this intimacy with her material Grall finds the inspiration, process, and concept for her work.  The artist sees inspiration from nature in her subjects of the garden lifecycle, using pigmented paper to design and paint both the interiors and exteriors of her work.  The artist’s process finds comparisons with the making of sacred and ceremonial objects in the growing and drying methods used to produce the gourds, techniques of scarring and burning on their surfaces, and the use of vines, beads, feathers and fiber.  Grall’s work presents the concepts of utilitarian objects, made to be sacred objects, and treated as painted sculpture.

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