We recently connected with Kim Alemian and have shared our conversation below.

Kim, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Even as a small child, I was interested in drawing and painting. Early on I had private lessons. I attended Massachusetts College of Art where I studied painting with George Nick. He was tough on values, color and composition. He didn’t teach a specific method or formula of painting. He taught an attitude, a way of seeing and a rigorous work ethic. I received a full scholarship to the Masters program at Boston University to study painting and drawing. It was here that my drawing skills were greatly enhanced.

It would have been very helpful to have had the drawing skills I learned at B.U. earlier. Drawing in my opinion is probably the most essential tool. I gained more confidence in my work and it was fun to play with drawing from different angles. Visiting Artist Graham Nickson was instrumental in opening my eyes to different approaches in Drawing and Painting.

After Graduate School, I continued coursework. Most notably at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture with Graham Nickson, who I had known at Boston University. I resonated with the teachings here more than at any other institution. Mercedes Matter, who studied with Hans Hofmann at the Art Students League in New York City in the 1930s, founded the school with her students. I believe the teachings here grew out of the Hofmann approach.

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 currently live in the Boston area. My formative years were spent in Hong Kong, Thailand and West Germany where my mother took me and my siblings to look at art and culture, which was all around us.

Living overseas and being exposed to the art and cultures of these places expanded my repertoire of images, colors and experiences. I studied privately with Marika Popovits when we lived in Germany and took art classes in school. Munich International School had a robust art program. I earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree Massachusetts College of Art, and received a full scholarship to Boston University, College of Fine Arts where I received my Masters Degree. I also studied at The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture. At NYSS my creative world was wildly expanded. Frequent visits to museums, art galleries and artists studios are very much a part of my continuing education. I am very interested in what contemporary artists are doing as well as what was going on in the past.

I am a process painter. I paint directly from observation. Interior/Still Life 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 and shifting objects within a painting, leaving traces of what came before, as in a palimpsest. Flora is also common element in my work. In the winter I use 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. Batiks, antique apothecary bottles, clear glass vases, exotic vessels are among such treasures. Some have been given to me, 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 complex, 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 may also switch the objects or change their position and impose that on top of what is there. I love chasing the light as it moves across the surface.

The frontal point of view which I use a lot, is probably inspired by the paintings of Veronese, Carpaccio and others which I saw in 1989 at the Academia in Venice and Masaccio, Masolino and Filippino Lippi’s murals in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence. I was struck by the compositions of these artists. They are almost musical and I can hear music in my head when I look at them today.

The abstract passages in my work comes out of looking at artists such as Henri Matisse. When I understood what he was doing in paintings like Artist & Goldfish, 1914, where his thumb and palette is the only thing left of his self portrait, Open Window, Collioure, 1914 and particularly View of Notre-Dame, 1914, I was tremendously excited and intrigued with the abstraction and things that were left from earlier versions of the paintings. There are other paintings along this path of his and I noted that he also worked on paintings over the span of years. The way these paintings were worked and re-worked over a period of time inspired me to “search” and not hold any one part as “precious”. Or in other words, I have to be open to losing any or all of the painting during the process of creating it. Willem de Kooning and Richard Diebenkorn are also influences in this practice. Cezanne is also an influence in the way he breaks apart his subject in a very abstract way.

My favorite medium is oil paint, for many reasons. There is a beautiful translucency that emanates from oils. I love the sensuality of mixing the colors, the textures of the paint, with stand or linseed oil and Gamsol. I try to follow the thick over thin rule where it works. Oils dry slowly and gives me time to work things out. I use different colors from Old Holland, Winsor Newton, Gamblin and Williamsburg artist paints. Natural bristle brushes, mostly flats, but some brights, filberts and rounds are among my tools. I prefer large Brushes from size 10, 12 and mural brushes. I also use inexpensive bristle brushes from the hardware store. I work on canvas or linen that has been oil primed as that also lends itself to the luminosity. The paint sits differently on oil primer than acrylic primer.

My oil paintings are represented by Cove Gallery—Wellfleet, MA, and Edgewater Gallery—Middlebury, VT.

I work as an Artist, Teacher and am also a Curator. I have curated numerous exhibitions nationally and produced catalogues documenting the occasions.
http://www.kcalemian.com
Instagram @KimAlemian

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Rather early in my career, I was showing in a couple of galleries on Martha’s Vineyard. Back then I was making small still lives which were exploring composition, shape and color. I used martini glasses, coke cans, wine bottles, olives, cheese squares, coffee cups and the like. These were quite successful though I felt after a couple of years I needed to move on with my subject. One of the galleries kept requesting these type of paintings, which I produced, but my heart wasn’t in it and it showed in the work. I had to step back and remove my work from the gallery. We parted on amicable terms but I felt they didn’t understand that I needed to grow and experiment and change. Fine art painting was not graphic design. Painting a set idea instead of letting the process lead was dry and uninteresting for my process. I stopped painting for a while as I figured out what was the right path for me. In time, I began painting again as it is an extension of me. I was experimental and focused on where the work led me. This was freeing. I decided I had to be true to my vision, and forge forward whether or not a gallery accepted the work. I had faith there would be a place for it somewhere and that has worked for me.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Educating people about the work is rewarding. Communicating about the art expands their understanding of the process and often sparks lively conversations. I also love engaging with other creatives, seeing their work and hearing about their processes and the paths they have taken. In my local community, I am blessed with many friends who have been students in my workshops and classes. Seeing what they produce in class is exciting and I have mounted shows with these works that have been educational and fruitful. Through the Transcultural Exchange I have engaged in exhibitions overseas and met wonderful people from different cultures. I am a member of The National Association of Women Artists—Massachusetts Chapter. I served a two year term as President in 2017–2019. Through this group I have met insightful steadfast, intelligent and caring artists. We have exhibited at various Museums and Galleries which has increased our reach. Visiting Museums enhances my life as an artist. Studying art history and being inspired by the greats not only in visual arts but in writing and music deeply enriches my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kcalemian.com
• Instagram: @KimAlemian
• Facebook: [email protected]