We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kimberly Salinas Silva a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kimberly, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I got my resilience from growing up with a schizophrenic mother and a depressed father. Encountering their divorce when I was 7 or 8. Neither of them were able to foster any kind of intentional resilience in me. On the contrary, I would say the novels, films and self help books I read as a teenager enabled me to discover other worlds. Through empathic means I was able to see myself differently, someone of sensitivity and understanding and strength. The women’s liberation movement was going strong in the late 70’s, though living in small town Louisiana did not offer many opportunities to express who I was becoming. I became frustrated and depressed over others’ seeming inability to mirror my thoughts, feelings, and actions. But I knew I was an artist, I felt I was somehow special, someone who would persevere and continue making my art no matter what.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a poet and a painter. I have always been a very shy person with difficulties in speaking around others. For that reason, painting and poetry have enabled me to express myself, to say who I really am. For this reason, these two disciplines have always excited and motivated me. There was always the chance that I might be understood at last! I can’t state with any certainty that that has happened. In fact, it may have further hindered any kind of others’ understanding who I am. It is always surprising what peoples’ perceptions are and these different perspectives add to my own sense of my work. It is a kind of collaboration between viewer and maker. My intention is to be as authentic as I can be in my art, and then set them free into the world, a vulnerable state.
This excites and terrifies me. Push through the anxieties and self doubt and come out freer and more confident on the other side.
Currently I am building my world of paintings, they excite me to no end. I also have an open mic coming up where I’ll read some poems to an audience. As for my paintings I am on the lookout for opportunities to show them. But I have begun painting again fairly recently. I’ll give them time to tell me what they want next.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I would say my voracious curiosity has been the instigator for wanting to make art. I am always seeking more. Looking at other artists’ work shows me what is possible. A thirst for drawing, especially as a child allowed me to reach others, especially adults. Adults, family members, neighbors, church people were keenly interested in the narratives that I was expressing. I made up stories, ones that reflected the times, say, teenagers doing drugs (hippie movement!) and other signs of the times. The attention made me self conscious as they took these drawings very seriously. I would advise younger people to make sure they love doing the act of their art choices. I believe it is love that keeps one going through the ups and downs of art making. Love gives one a purpose, can silence the naysayers. It can keep one on track. Also, looking at others’ art, being curious about what others are doing, is important. It has been for me and continues to be at the age of 62. It is not a matter of copying other artists’; it is a matter of broadening your perspective. To not be threatened by what others are doing, but embracing the freedom one has as an artist. Look at others, but find your own authenticity. That is key.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
Exploring and discovering my own strengths has been exhilarating for me. I have honed in on those and not worried much about weaknesses. I am an intuitive and feeling type of person. I create stories, stories that arise from putting paint to canvas and seeing a story emerge through various characters and contexts. Once I’ve found a story I can then tailor the piece to express that story. That is my strength. Spontaneous! I never know what’s going to ‘happen’. I love being surprised by the end result. It’s nothing I could have come up with if I was trying to adhere to a certain blueprint. And I woud be bored! The way I work ensures I’m never bored, I’m hungry like a hound in finding the dream. When I was commissioned by. SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design grad level), they wanted me to make sketches first for approval. But I knew that would kill my enthusiasm. I told them no, I wouldn’t do sketches. And ultimately they allowed that. The paintings I did for them were the most inventive and spontaneous I’d ever done. Though I don’t see them anymore, I consider them a success.
