Kristy Kristinek says her own personal memory as a dancer contributes to the existing space she is creating through experiences of discipline, practice, balance, and relaxed fluid faculty of control.
“I try to capture this through various materials, the movement of my own body, as well as the memory of movement that can become distorted and transparent,” says the artist, whose exhibition “Imbalanced Parallels” is on view at the Center for Contemporary Arts in the Jane Adams Breed Gallery starting July 7. “I enjoy using various materials such as charcoal, chalk pastel, acrylic and textured surfaces.”
Kristinek is a visual artist and performer.
In her art, flowing forms and colors move across the canvas reminiscent of the movements of a dancer’s body. Often featuring loose circular forms, her work is an expression of movement, sometimes created as a part of or in conjunction with a live dance component. Kristinek’s paintings have a vitality and energy that is infectious to the viewer. The fluidity of motion, refined palette, and seemingly spontaneous marks allow the viewer to experience both the technical skill and the creative process required for both painting and dance.
Kristinek selects materials that create movement of their own such as water or surfaces that enhance motion. She says her paintings “communicate back to me becoming an extension of my thoughts, emotions, and desires ultimately transforming the expression into something visible.”
“My work discovers the infinite variations of movement recorded on the surface of a restricted space. The framing of these dance-inspired movements promote an abstracted view of tension, harmony, and sequence through drawing, painting and layered materials. Connections between dancer and painter become ‘fleshed out’ through the use of specific gestures, inviting the viewer to move, or be moved by the intimate limitations of the performance space.”
Born and raised in Bandera, Texas, the Cowboy Capital of the World, Kristinek began making art at age 5. Along with her art-making, Kristy trained as a classical dancer – pursuing ballet extensively and even performing with the Colorado Ballet and St. Petersburg Russian Ballet at age 15. While dance ultimately was not her path, it became the impetus for much of her visual art.
Kristinek moved to Lubbock in 2008 and graduated with her BFA in Studio Art from Texas Tech University in 2012, continuing there for her MFA in Painting, completed in 2015. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Fine Arts and Gallery Director at South Plains College, and an artist-in-residence at Charles Adams Studio Project with a public studio space in Lubbock.
Her work has been shown locally and nationally and has been published in multiple art journals. She has participated in live visual and performing arts events and worked with other areas of art and design.
Contributed by the Center for Contemporary Arts
Leave a Reply