Today we’d like to introduce you to Kim Alemian.

Hi Kim, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.

My father accepted a job with Gillette in the early 60s which required traveling overseas. My mother had the travel bug and was thrilled. Dad went on ahead and my mom packed up us four kids all under the age of 5 and headed to Hong Kong. Our first foreign adventure. I was always playing with crayons, creating pictures and making dolls out of Coke bottles. We had plenty of dolls, but somehow the challenge of creating a figure out of a Coke bottle and clothing it was intriguing. The bottles had a built in waist and a place to change hair styles at the top of it. Our next stop was Thailand. A land of exquisite beauty everywhere. The textiles, the flowers, the architecture, the sculptures, the klongs, the Festival of Lights—Lori Krathong, new and exotic stimuli tantalizing my senses. We attended Thai dance presentations and it amazed me how they could bend back their fingers so far and wiggle their heads without losing the huge, very ornate, temple dancer crowns. Bamboo shades, carved tables and bowls all played into my later aesthetic as an artist.

When we moved to Germany, we were again exposed to wonderful works of art as my mother carted us off to museums and pointed out the public sculptures. The Christkindlesmarkt in Nuremberg was like walking into a fairyland. We went at dusk, the booths were beautifully laid out with red and white striped awnings and the lighting was magical. It was cold so it made it feel like the lights emitted warmth. Albrecht Dürer became a huge influence. Especially his etchings.

Two years after living in the Nuremberg area we moved to a town outside of Munich. I was delighted with the Glockenspiel in the New City Hall at Marienplatz. We were also fortunate enough to see The Passion Play of Oberammergau which occurs only every 10 years. Visiting the castles and gardens were also packed with inspiration and awe.

Needless to say, my childhood experiences played a rather large part in my artistic interest and I may say even cemented it. I had art lessons with well known artist Marika Popovits, who happened to be my best friend’s mother.

Soon we moved back to the United States and I continued my art lessons, entering various competitions. I attended Massachusetts College of Art where I received my BFA and then won a full scholarship to Boston University College of Fine Art. I received my MFA. At MassArt, I was part of a very inventive and ambitious class. We put on some of the first school student exhibitions wherever we could get the space within the school. We hung the shows, made the labels, got the word out and organized opening receptions with food and beverages. That was great experience in itself.

I studied primarily with George Nick in my undergraduate years. He was also a world traveller and would excite us with tales of the paintings he had seen as well as the colors of the places he visited. He brought his supplies with him and created paintings for his own shows.

My husband and I traveled extensively to France and Italy though we also visited Eastern Europe. Museums, Architecture and public art were high on our list of “must see.” His photography won prizes and we had several shows together—his photography and my paintings.

I was deeply influenced by Matisse and deKooning whose work I studied extensively while in school. When I saw the “Bay Area Figurative Art 1950-1965” exhibition at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, I was so excited and moved by the way the paint was put down, the color and compositions of these artists. Particularly, Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff and David Park. The show galvanized me to experiment with my own work.

My first exhibition was at a fellow classmate’s gallery in Manchester-by-the-Sea in the early 1990’s. The show nearly sold out and it was an exciting start to my career. I applied to several galleries on Martha’s Vineyard and my work was accepted to the Field Gallery and later Gardner Colby Gallery invited me to show with them. I was also invited to be a member of the Old Sculpin Gallery.

Since my work got around and some of the gallerists would invite other gallerists to view their artists, I was invited to join several galleries this way”—as long as they were not in close proximity of each other. Of course it all had to be cleared with the gallerists and it has worked out well.

In attending the Transcultural Exchange Conferences, I met a curator who invited me and another artist to have an exhibition in the Netherlands. Our work was featured in a lovely gallery and we participated in a large Art Fair. As invited artists our accommodations were taken care of and the American ambassador came to see our work. There were also local newspaper articles. Since then the curator has included my work in a few overseas exhibitions along with other artists from Ireland, Israel, and other countries.

I am currently represented by the Cove Gallery in Wellfleet, MA and the Edgewater Gallery in Middlebury, VT.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

Early on I had a tendency to want to please the gallery representing my work. When I did this, I felt I was checking off a shopping list so to speak. This showed up in the work and it didn’t feel or look organic and exciting to me. It took some time, but I took a leap of faith and let the painting dictate what it needed. This was very freeing and the work again came to life.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

I am a process painter. Oils are my primary medium. They offer a wonderful luminosity and I love mixing the colors. I paint directly from observation and the Interior/Still Life motif gives me many options to work from objects, colors and the light that I love. I feel that my work is primarily about light and the environment. There is a lot of repainting, turning the canvas and shifting objects within a painting, leaving traces of what came before, as in a palimpsest. Flora is a common element in my paintings. In the winter I work from fresh cut flowers. When spring arrives, I start with Forsythia as there is an abundance of it where I live. The branches create wonderful passages.

Over the years I have collected meaningful objects and fabrics from my travels. Some have been given to me, but most all have an experience attached to them. I work from natural light, so some works are dependent on light situations and some are the result of a gray day with a sunny day imposed upon it.

I am drawn to reflections and transparent objects because they are always changing with the light, they challenge me. Shapes and colors shift depending on the light situation, the time of day and the type of day. There may be several times of day present in a work. I love chasing the light as it moves across the surface.

The aspect of not knowing how the work will resolve is what excites me.

Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?

I have many favorite childhood memories! Art has always been a part of my life. One of my earliest creative memories is before we traveled overseas. I created a finger pinch Christmas Tree for my mother. The joy I experienced in making this piece is etched in my memory. My mother gifted it back to me and I treasure it.

Pricing:

• 40 x 40 inch $5800
• 36 x 36 inch $5600
• 30 x 40 inch $5400
• 30 x 30 inch $5000
• 24 x 30 inch $4600

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kcalemian.com
• Instagram: @KimAlemian
• Facebook: KimAlemian

Image Credits

Kim Alemian
Kelli Diagle