ARTIST STATEMENT

I like a strong subject, something that maintains its presence while allowing for elaboration and whimsy. While all of these eventual subjects are physically a part of my life, I don’t always see them right away as an artist. When they do come to my attention in such a way, what I notice in them is a sort of grandness. They become mon­umental in nature and I want to experience that nature in the act of creating or recreating them. I believe that this is the only way that I can experience the world fully and share that ex­per­ience with other people. The pastel medium seems most effective for this action - the thick­ness of some vehicles, the layering possibilities and the power of pure colors – although paint (oil, acrylic, watercolor) provides many of the same poss­ib­il­ities with slightly different effects. The work is bold - I like my forms to have distinct mass, as if they were carved out of the negative space. But I also like for them to be light, with the potential for motion. So I will often add an over­lay of gesture, to define the form and to release it from the rest of the composition. And I am very much interested in how the objects rest in the space, to the point that object and space often intrude upon one another and distortions may be made for the sake of unity.

BIOGRAPHY

Kristin Pluhacek lives and works in Omaha, Nebraska. Her drawings and paintings have been exhibited extensively in Midwestern fine arts galleries and museums, and her work is rep­re­sented in numerous public and private coll­ect­ions. She is the illustrator for the book “Send Me Tulips”, recently published by Prisma Press and was the featured artist/illustrator for the 2007 Summer Arts Festival. She has participated in numerous public art projects and led many project workshops, including the Lauritzen Gardens Lewis and Clark Interpretive Icon and "Reach for Your Dreams", a collaboration between Mutual of Omaha, Campfire USA and the United States Swimming Association in con­junc­tion with the 2008 Olympic Swim Trials. Kristin is a BFA graduate of Creighton University, and teaches drawing at Metropolitan Community College and Joslyn Art Museum.