This is what happens when you are home, sick with a bad ear infection, cotton stuffed in your ear, asking everyone over and over: “Huh? What?” and taking a heap of antibiotics, and having to use $170.00 ear drops. My eardrum almost ruptured but it DID NOT.  For all you kiddos at school: You better be doing the lesson plans I sent. And for my principals: Yes I will make up my missed faculty meeting! Don’t you worry. Now on to the real reason for this post:

Mixed media collage on stretched canvas. 2018. Jan Kirstein

I would like to propose an art exhibit of my most recent art work  for a space yet to be determined. I have been writing and featuring artists on my website for over two years, and I chose to do so because I love your work. So where do you show? Who wants to show your work?  Please let me know because I am currently looking for a venue to exhibit my own art work and I would greatly appreciate any resources or suggestions you may be able to suggest..

I am a fine artist , a painter based in Louisville, KY. and have been working here as an artist for over 35 years.   If anyone knows of or can suggest any way, place, exhibition space or show that might be open to exhibiting my work or willing to show this work, please let me know.

While I am looking for an exhibition space or gallery, I would also be happy to show in any group show as well or even be considered for commission work.  My paintings are collage on canvas, with sumi e ink and a variety of drawing materials.  I have a brief artist statement and a few of the works I would like to show. I figured, who better to help me out with this delima than my own readers, and all the artists I have featured in my blog? Thanks so much for all your ideas, thoughts and suggestions to help me out here!. You can contact me at janiskirstein@gmail.com. 

Close-up view

My goal is to continue my painting and as you probably already know, I need a studio. I work in my basement now, but I would like a room with heat and without flooding every time it rains. This has been my goal for many years now, but I have not been able to exhibit my work for many years, especially even in my own home town .   I am open to showing anywhere and of course would love to sell or get commissions. I have applied to over 30 opportunities this year, with all rejections and want to break this cycle.  The rejection letters are all written so much alike they are all running together into a blur and I am beginning to be unable to tell them apart!

I was really passionate about using my collage designs on fashions that I have created and these are located here: https://shop.kirsteinfineart.com. I love doing this stuff, but it ends up being a tad more expensive than I like due to the fact that the items are printed to individual order. Wish I could charge less.

When I was a high school student years ago in Louisville, I can remember how easy it was to make cash flow with my art. All I had to do was paint rocks and take them to Dee’s Consignment shop. Or set up a booth with the St. James Art Fair and draw caricatures. I still remember all the artists who were exhibiting at the St. James show back then.  Many of these artists were quite successful but I remember one of them committed suicide as the years went on. Back when I was young I could not understand why artists would do that in their 60’s.  And this particular artist was one who’s work I really admired.

The Great Horse Race. Mixed media on stretched canvas. 2018.

I want to continue painting, but I need to paint for someone besides myself in a space for making art.  I want my art to help someone remember how it feels to be fully alive, to remind them that life is always moving, always changing, always in flux and that the coincidences are really all significant synchronicities.

Artist Statement:

My creative process combines a mixture of media and collage, including acrylic, pastel, colored pencil & Photoshop, Sumi-E Ink and Japanese Rice paper. My canvases and paper works are for sale and range in size from small ,5″ x 6″, to medium 20″ x 32″ to large 4′ x 8.’ I also create fashion pieces from the paintings I create. To see more of these items, check out my website: https://kirsteinfineart.com.

I love making collages. Action painting is my joy for more than 30 years and continues to this day, today, with Sumi-E ink and a haiki brush. I add Japanese rice paper torn scraps, and combine a variety of media including paint, watercolor, graphite, ink, colored pencil, even glitter, all to make a free flowing capture of the creative energy that surrounds me at any given moment.. Right now I am creating this series of paintings in my basement. I will be continuing this process.

To achieve the atmospheric abstraction seen in my work, I especially make use of transparent layering. The scale of my pieces can range from my use of the Nano image to images of outer space. My canvases and paper works range in size from small ,5″ x 6″, to medium 20″ x 32″ to large 4′ x 8.’That means all realities are visible simultaneously, which creates a paradox or sense perceptive omnipotence within you, the perceiver. It’s much like being able to see all dimensions of reality within one gaze.

I love all of you that have followed to the end of this quest and thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with me. I hope that I hear from you through comments or email. Wishing you a good day today and a happy weekend coming up.