Today we’d like to introduce you to Idakatherine Graver.
Idakatherine, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
My parents were both working artists. We have a famous family story of me falling in a museum parking lot when I was two, cutting my knee quite badly. I hollered out in excitement, “Look Daddy! Red paint!” Paint is my blood. I resisted the idea of being an artist for years because I wanted a more comfortable, secure life than I had grown up with. But I’ve made art all my life. When I was thirty-two, the mother of three boys, sitting on the beach, looking out at the Gulf of Mexico where I grew up, a voice came out of the sky and told me to just paint. That’s what I’ve done ever since.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Paintings are my language. I paint the invisible, telling stories using color and form. I like to use the fewest number of tools I can – my fingers, sticks, pencils, squeeze bottles. I don’t even use a brush. Making a painting is an organic experience, requiring me to be fully present to make a piece that is completely real. The song of my work is this: whatever the darkness there is in this world, there is a constant, irresistible stream of beauty and meaning. I have a vision of each piece before I begin, and I work until it becomes real and alive. Each piece has its own life and, just like a person, continues to reveal itself over time.
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
The challenge is always to be seen and heard. At this time in our culture, artists face the same fundamental challenge that pervades every other profession: money now gives the illusion that it is the driving force behind everything. All people are suffering from that – teachers, doctors, artists.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Daytime during the week come visit me at my studio, 215 E. Grant Street in Phoenix. Spend some time surrounded by my pieces and talking with me. I love having conversations while I’m working. My website: www.idakatherinegraver.com.
Contact Info:
- Address: Idakatherine Graver Studios at Bentley Projects
215 E. Grant Street Phoenix, AZ 85003 - Website: www.idakatherinegraver.com
- Email: idakatherine@idakatherinegraver.com
Image Credit:
Clutch Photos
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