Meet Mayme Kratz

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mayme Kratz.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
A few years ago it occurred to me that how we play as children is a key as to what our gift to the world might be. Sometimes this is difficult to recognize and often just a thread that leads us to a larger realization. I was raised in a rural situation and most of my play time in my young life was spent in nature. Days were filled with hiking, building tree forts, fishing and tending garden. When I was around 7 years of age I took on the task of attempting to mend injured wildlife. My brother and father would hunt doves for food, and because we did not have a dog, I was the retriever. I kept the wounded doves in my pocket and tried to save them.

I did this with rodents, cats, fish and geese. I am sorry to say most did not survive. I would bury them in small boxes with an elaborate ceremony. A few weeks after their burial I’d start to wonder if they were really dead, if I might be able to see their spirits? I would unearth them from their shoebox graves, looking for the soul, only to find various levels of decay. This close internal looking instilled in me a reverence for nature. In many ways I think my work is an extension of that time. I am still burying things and digging them up. The resin taking on the role of soil, translucent and filled with light. The bits of nature I bury in the resin are deserving of a closer look, and the process of sanding into the collected objects is much like the process of digging something up.

I knew for certain at age 11 that my destiny was to be an artist. The weight of it made me sick with fear and I went to bed for several weeks as I tried to sort it out. It has been a long journey from there to here, but I have never strayed. I took solace in the clarity of knowing, even in the most difficult times, as I still do, that this is my destiny. I chose a tough route and did not get a formal education (which I would not recommend). With some sort of strange luck, I was given apprenticeships that gave me the education I needed.

Please tell us about your art.
I think that part of my process is to bring beauty into the world and share it with others. I tend to focus on the small exquisite moments, often overlooked, that unfold all around us, all the time.

I hike and backpack often, returning with treasures I find from these journeys. Sometimes I find plant life, sometimes animals… a deer or bobcat that has met its demise, or exoskeletons from a cicada or snake. These all find their way into the work. I use resins, plasters, and wax and arrange and cast my findings within a wall panel or embed them in a sculpture. I work intuitively and the pieces are often influenced by poetry and literature that I happen to be reading at the time.

I have never wanted to be defined by a material, so I mix it up as much as possible and work on both two dimensional and three-dimensional pieces. From time to time I will create a large-scale installation using tumble weeds or other noxious plants that are considered invasive to our desert landscape.

My most recent work is focusing on Bears Ears National Monument… areas such as Cedar Mesa and Grand Gulch. I have been traveling to this wilderness to experience its raw and beautiful history and to study the plants and light and wildlife. I feel it is important to share as much of its mystery as I can… As of now large areas are unprotected and have been opened up to mining and drilling by our current administration.

Choosing a creative or artistic path comes with many financial challenges. Any advice for those struggling to focus on their artwork due to financial concerns?
I feel it is important to show up every day and work. I have found this discipline is really important. For many years I had to take on other jobs to support the work. For a while now, I have been able to support myself without working outside the studio. Because I create wall work and sculpture it gives me more options for sales. In the past, several public art projects helped make ends meet. A few years back when things were lean I made a limited-edition art book and the sales from that managed to get me through a rough patch. In the end, for better or for worse, I am a pragmatic poet. I keep reinventing what my muses deliver. I will do whatever I can to stay self-employed.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I am fortunate to exhibit with several galleries. In this way I am able to create the work without interruption and ship it to various locations. Regionally I am represented by Lisa Sette Gallery. She is located at 210 East Catalina in midtown Phoenix. I also exhibit work with Dolby Chadwick Gallery in San Francisco and Littlejohn Contemporary in New York. I have an exhibition opening at Lisa Sette Gallery in January of 2019. Please come by and celebrate the evening with us on Saturday, January 12, 2019 from 7-9pm.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.maymekratz.com
• Phone: 602-443-6808
• Email: maymekratz@gmail.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/maymekratz

Image Credit:
Images of the Tumbleweed Bower – photo credit – Bill Timmerman Photography
All other images – photo credit – Tim Lanterman Photography.

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