We were lucky to catch up with Kim Cardoso recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kim, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?
So far, my journey has been more Lonely Planet than Fodor’s, but that mood and timing has been just right. As a metalsmith in Baltimore in my twenties, I was involved in everything. I was a founding member of a cooperative art gallery, wrote for a free art monthly, and participated in street fairs and high end events. I left it all to follow a calling which led me to California and a twenty year career as a midwife and nurse practitioner. A decade ago, I missed and needed art, so I started creating again- as a painter! Certainly if I had continued with the momentum – and medium- I had in Baltimore, who knows where I would be in my art career, but my life history informs the work I do now. There’s no rush.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m an extrovert visual artist seeking a calm refuge in our intense times. I work with sensual, luminous materials- beeswax, natural tree resin, rich pigments, and graphite- to create peaceful paintings with a touch of playfulness. They are mostly abstract, often feel like landscapes, and always come from a place of observation and wonder. They are my way of healing. They also smell delicious!
After I earned my BA in art and psychology, I started my career as a fine metalsmith, but within four years I moved to San Francisco to become a healthcare provider. A decade later, I attended an art retreat at the Mendocino Arts Center and learned the encaustic technique with Susan Stover, an artist now working in the Hudson River Valley. The ancient painting method resonated with my craftsperson’s heart, and I bought the basic supplies the Monday after I came home. Encaustic is a material not commonly seen, but examples of it still exist from the 1st century BC. Multiple layers of hot paint are applied to a firm surface and each layer is fused with a torch to the one below. The hardened wax can be carved, filled, scratched, and used to hold collage material. It’s a very physical process that gets me out of my head.
For many years, I painted on the back deck of my Oakland home, but in early 2023 I moved into a studio building with other artists. This change gave me the separation of space I needed to fully focus when painting- which has strengthened my art practice. It’s a lot to balance my responsibilities as a midwife working with complex patients in a community health clinic and being a mother of teens, so having a dedicated place to paint really helps. I arranged my healthcare work so I can schedule studio time three days a week. This focus has helped me create meaningful, skilled paintings which I show and sell nationally. It also keeps me sane.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
The number one question my healthcare colleagues and friends ask is, “Do you sleep?” Anyone who has ever composed poetry on a napkin or doodled in their class notebook will understand that the creative act doesn’t happen just in the studio. The story of any painting runs in the background when I’m driving to work or weeding the garden. Even in the studio, sometimes I contemplate and paint in equal amounts! For anyone who wants to create art or have a business, just start. Replace TV and scrolling with thinking, journaling, and making. Build friendships with people who have similar interests and a strong drive. If the work comes from the heart, fear of failure becomes small and the joy of creating fits itself into your busy life- with at least seven hours of sleep a night.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
How early?! As a metalsmith in the 90’s, I sent physical slides for consideration in juried shows which I learned of by word of mouth or from the back of a magazine. When I pivoted back into art in 2013, I found a totally different landscape with tools for learning, document management, marketing, and global connection readily available- and expanding. A few years ago, I started relying on Google docs and sheets to keep organized. I don’t know what I would do without my awesome multi-tab spreadsheet for inventory, juried show entries, gallery connections, and expenses. The sheets are linked into a massive document with literally everything in my table of contents – including goals, CV, different versions of my artist statement, upcoming calls for entry, best supply sources, and my latest plans for a video series about art and wellness.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kimcardosoart.com
- Instagram: kimcardosoart
Image Credits
Otto Cardoso
Vannaleze Barcelos