Meet Katy Kidd

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katy Kidd. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katy below.

Katy , looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

My dad was a hardworking guy from at least the age of 15. He grew up in Texas and left home in 1955 to work in the citrus fields in Florida. He was able to put a new roof on his parent’s house before he graduated from High School. After High school he decided that he needed more discipline and joined the army where he became a helicopter mechanic in the Korean War. He came from dirt poor and by the 80’s, managed to build a good and fancy life for himself, my mother, me and my brother. My dad had me working for his company in the summer by the age of 12. My brother worked in a bodega at 11. We learned the value of having a little money in our pockets and a growing skillset. In high school we were never given money for gas, or going out. When we wanted a car my dad said “I have my half”. We had to come up with the rest. At 20 I became a young mom and found myself working 2 jobs and going to school to get a college degree while caring for my son. I didn’t complain much. It was just what I had to do. I never saw my parents complain about the work they had to do. I think that was a helpful model for me. After my BFA degree I was playing with the idea of going to get an MFA. The advice I was given by my professors was “Just get an art studio and just start working”. I took that advice to heart. I am finally in a place in my life at 53 where I am able to work on my art full time without moonlighting another job. I have a schedule that I adhere to in my studio. I have learned over the years to show up even if I am not inspired and I am making creative mistakes. A bad day in the studio is still better than a good day working for someone else. I have had days where I couldn’t pick up a paintbrush. On those days I organize and clean the studio. I have had weeks where I was in the middle of a painting and absolutely hating what I was working on. For this artist the days are mostly just “work” and on occasion sprinkled with a giddy creative high. Showing up an doing the work is a non negotiable for me.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I have been a working artist for 30 years. It has always been a side hustle after working full time for other’s, raising kids and running a household. At 53 I have found myself able to work just for me. My kids are grown, my household is small and simple and I have the thing I have coveted my whole adult life: I have the time to work on my art all goddamn day long. It has been a long time coming. For years I have been working with a visual vernacular that is a global amalgam of religious, cultural, environmental and socio-political imagery. I have been a painter for most of the time, but recently I put away the paints and have been working exclusively on paper as a printmaker. After years of collecting panels and stretched canvases I decided to lighten my load. It’s much easier to store or ship paper than panels. Last summer I was involved in a residency with “The Bureau of Queer Art”, in Cuernavaca. The residency culminated with a group show in Mexico City. I chose fabric to print on. Over 3 months I carefully printed wedding cakes, love birds, Milagros, candles, skulls, marigolds and butterflies on a vintage satin wedding dress. I hand delivered the dress for the show. It was so far from what I had ever done, working in 3D and it is a really stunning piece of artwork. Next month I have 2 prints in a group show in a gallery in Barcelona, Spain. It is a goal of mine to get out of the US art market and I am slowly doing so however I still have a few galleries in the states.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

-Self pity is an absolute waste of time
-empathy and compassion are incredibly important. In the same breath so is having good boundaries and protecting your energy, time, creativity, etc…
-Do no harm-take no shit.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

In the late 80’s early 90’s I was following the Grateful Dead around the country. After big stadium shows my friends and I would walk the bleachers looking for forgotten drugs, money, cigarettes or whatever. On one of these nights I found a book called “STRANGER IN THE FOREST: On foot across Borneo”, by Eric Hansen. For the next few days I sat in the back of a dodge van with a bunch of stinky hippies, me included, and read the book from beginning to end. I had traveled a little as a kid and teenager, but never to anywhere incredibly far or unfamiliar. Something inside me clicked on and I have been reading non-fiction travel books for years. All of this reading and now traveling to these sorts of places has opened my eyes to different cultures. Getting my ass out of America has been the greatest thing I could ever do for myself and for my art. Traveling informs my visual language. It also keeps my American white girl head outta my ass and feeling sorry for myself, or feeling some BS grandiosity. Seeing how the rest of the world lives is a huge value of mine. It keeps me in check and it keeps my heart tender.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.katykidd.com www.katykidd.org
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/roXFoGhWuv8?si=N0UqD7zppW-M2hI4

Image Credits

Katy Kidd