We recently connected with Kaitlyn Tucek and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kaitlyn, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
I’ve been very lucky and have had the opportunity to execute many of my out of the box ideas, due to the support of some very incredible individuals. Last fall, after over a year of planning, I presented “The Dinner Party”, a project that incorporated not only a series of new paintings and objects, but also a written narrative and zine, a whimsical buffet of food and drink as well as performances, music and dance. We even asked the guests to arrive in flora or fauna costume and they more than showed up. This project continues to encourage and dazzle me -and others, even a year later.
To give some back story, I’ve experimented with pushing boundaries and doing more than just hanging paintings on a wall for some time. Years ago, I started by simply writing poetry that corresponded to the works, and eventually I began to consider the space around the objects as well (look up my Aspen Ghost Town project, The Lilac Hour). But, I had a desire to work with food and was lucky to meet an amazing chef, Morgan Bolling, and spend months collaborating on a surrealist dinner party concept that could tickle all the senses.
The party was an attempt at elevating a femme aesthetic, including focuses on mermaids and fantasy, while also making space for people to celebrate their queerness. The idea is that food creates togetherness. In reflection, the project was wildly successful. People were happy, they were delighted and really felt the magic that evening. It was more than I could have hoped for and has paved the way to budding new projects that hopefully continue to create that feeling of freedom and belonging.
Kaitlyn, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m an artist. But, not the type of artist that creates a single product or style. I’m the type of artist who aims to create everything, not just a painting or an object, but a fantasy, a world for people to exist in and where everything in that world supports the story. I push boundaries, I will tell you that I’m a lot. I will try to break rules. If you were to visit my instagram page or website, you will find various two dimensional works, but you might also find images from special events and programming that I have created. I am the artist who always wants more. I am also the artist who will give you something entirely new.
I was primarily trained as a painter and draftsperson. Born and raised in NY, I went to Pratt Institute for Illustration and CUNY Queens College for graduate school. I’ve worked in education for almost 18 years, working in colleges, K-12 schools and Art Museums such as the MoMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and my favorite, The Clyfford Still Museum. I have also taught and facilitated figure drawing programs in many places, and at various times in my career, as it is the core of my training and something I’m very passionate about. Some artists separate their studio practice and their other endeavors or work, but for me, all of these things inform each other and I bring so much of what I believe as an educator into my creative work.
I have a studio and most of my works come from conceptualizing visuals, I create many drawings and paintings that relate to some of my storytelling, and then I often consider the concept beyond the frame’s edge. For example, for my project “The Dinner Party”, I created almost twenty paintings and works on paper but, I also wrote a poetic narrative to go along with each work and spent hours correlating pieces of food to the themes in the works.
Currently, I am working on multiple projects, One project, is just a simple painting show that emphasizes dreamy romantic feminine landscapes- gorgeous fluid, gestural , and dream-like oil paintings. I’m also creating shell costumes for a performance about a world that explores the multi self. In another project, I’m trying to create a pop-up artist led bakery, a group show that will celebrate absurdity. These projects all involve capturing the audience’s attention in a new and immersive way while also creating accessible community driven programming.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
This is simple- The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is living a life that is filled with curiosity and joy. Living a creative life is living a life that is playful, and for that, I am eternally grateful.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
In the last few months, I’ve realized that I was still holding back from truly accessing everything I desired or could be. I could see how the advantage of my education was also a strange disadvantage, creating an allegiance to rules or structures that weren’t serving me but were all I had as an example to follow.
My advice is- Be everything you can be, even if your idea seems strange, doesn’t fit in, or will upset the norm, do it. Bring it to life. It was only when I insisted on creating these things and proved myself that people started to listen and believe in what I could do. I just had to show them first, and not listen to the opposition. Don’t follow the rules, they aren’t one size fits all.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://KaitlynTucek.com
- Instagram: KTUCEK
Image Credits
Photos of The Dinner Party by Beauty Astria, Photos of Artwork by Matthew Tripodi