We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kari Bell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kari below.
Hi Kari, so excited to talk about all sorts of important topics with you today. The first one we want to jump into is about being the only one in the room – for some that’s being the only person of color or the only non-native English speaker or the only non-MBA, etc Can you talk to us about how you have managed to be successful even when you were the only one in the room that looked like you?
‘If you know your values, there are no questions.” ( Newspaper story headline, circa 1988.)
The ability to stand up, recognize your skills, use them effectively and ignore the naysayers is one of the greatest challenges for everyone but especially women. We accept, when we are younger, things we do not necessarily know to be true but we don’t yet have the experience to discern; there is so much we don’t know about ourselves and our world.
In my family, I experienced a mixed bag. My Dad was a WWII vet with expectations that his new bride would still be the compliant woman he married a few weeks before shipping out. My siblings and I heard and felt their stories. From each of them we heard stories about courage, fear, decision making, leadership, about finding one’s way through new and challenging circumstances. My mother was newly married, living alone in San Francisco, and soon realized she was pregnant. We heard those stories of her resilience, her determination to be a fearless and successful mother during the four years of my Dad’s absence. He dealt with his memories and fears with stoicism and stories of his men, camaraderie and responsibilities to others. ‘Stand up, you can do this’ paired with a bit of ‘that’s not what’s expected’ were common themes in my household. In those years living with parents who were negotiating and discussing the new world of feminism, Vietnam, politics, an awakening about racism and civil rights, I began to walk a different path than my upbringing might have predicted. College (far away from home at my parents’ insistence), first job also far away and a burning desire and curiosity to see the world obliged me to understand I had to rely on myself as had been modeled. Exposure to myriad and often conflicting ideas through people, jobs, circumstances and opportunities formed my own value system. But the base was there.
My first job as a college professor with a PHD in hand was formidable. Here was yet another new world with its own culture to negotiate, a variety of demands from all sides, doubts and insecurities. Few women had PhDs, few women were teaching academics. One of a handful of women, the youngest on the faculty, I watched as women were treated differently than male colleagues. We really had to insist on equal treatment in a very unequal world. And it seemed women were too often apologizing for ‘nothing’ and therefore always taking a back seat. How was I going to move up in my profession, achieve my professional goals and be able to look myself in the mirror if I was not able to stand up for my wants, needs and goals?
I identified a woman respected in the academic community whose work, work ethic and attitude I admired and appreciated, asked her to mentor me, met with her weekly and grew into a level of self assuredness that then began to show up in other aspects of my life. I worked to find a cohort whose values I shared. I learned not to step back from people in authority, male or female, to request what I needed and to walk away from dubious/difficult situations. I learned I am a valuable person with skills, expertise and competencies. I walked taller. I felt better. And sometimes that came with a price but i just couldn’t compromise my basic values of honesty, integrity and kindness.
Momentarily that frame collapsed when I realized and accepted that I am gay. At forty something and surrounded by the still unevolved attitudes toward gay people of the 80’s it was scary mostly because I didn’t know who to trust. I was on guard, wary, unsettled. Again, I formed a cohort of gay colleagues with whom to share stories, concerns and, frankly, with whom to band were we ever attacked or dismissed. But, we were not out and we were not, therefore, free. Then, in a student faculty gathering, a young woman (who already knew I was gay) rather spontaneously blurted out to a group of us that she was gay and she’d be damned if she was going to hide, duck, deny, or pretend. She was gay and that was that, dammit! And, with that I was free. She said what I knew I should have been saying. I never looked back.
When I retired a close friend and colleague stood and said “One thing about Kari is you know you can always count on her to speak her mind and tell you her truth.” I wear that statement with pride.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
These days I am an artist, specifically a contemporary abstract painter who uses oil and cold wax in my work. I live and work in New Mexico where the desert is the dominant feature and which guides a lot of my art practice. I don’t have muses per se but I can say that light and colors of the Southwest are critical to my artistic vision. I paint what I feel about what I see. My local environment is immensely empowering to my mind set and my art practice. Many people do not see and feel the extraordinary beauty of the desert. I revel in it, seek out its quiet, its colors, its embrace. And, I have an extremely supportive wife who’s my biggest sounding board, framer and ‘art pal’. We are hikers and value the open spaces, the vastness of our environment, the colors and textures of the mountains and meadows of our area. It is so peaceful to grab boots, water, sunblock and hat and know the world is far away for the next several hours. That peace stays with me in my art practice.
I am a super fan of promoting the arts and to that end I gave birth to the idea of an artists collective in the Taos, NM area. With the focused assistance of a few fellow artists we created the Taos Abstract Artist Collective which promotes abstract artists across Northern New Mexico. Our art expos have been extraordinarily well received and we are launching more initiatives with arts organization in the Taos area with many ideas and thoughts on how we might expand.
In addition, since I live just north of Albuquerque, I founded the Cerulean Art Salon to encourage discussion, artists talks, group shows and simply a camaraderie among our small group. The Albuquerque area is overshadowed by Santa Fe in terms of arts reputation but I assure you the arts here are thriving.
June 1, 2024 I will be a featured artist in the Encaustic Arts Magazine.
www.karibellart.com @kbartsnm
www.taosabstractartistcollective @taosabstractartistcollective
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
This could be a really long list on a very basic thought: know who you are, know your values and stay true to yourself. If one is not solid in that area then, I believe, there’s actually very little foundation upon which to build a career, a business, a family unit, etc. Every day it seems there’s a challenge that could undo everything or most of what one has worked to established and knowing our values allows us to stay steady in the face of challenges and unknowns. Right now, for example, as an artist there are some places I simply will not sell or show my art. That gallery may be a bit sketchy in its dealings with artists or their ‘commission’ too far above the standard acceptable rates, or maybe they have damaged a fellow artist’s work and refused to compensate. Do I want to be associated with that group or person even if maybe my art would sell in that gallery?
Related is the idea that a person should try to do what they want and what they love. Strive toward that goal. Educate yourself to achieve that goal. Be prepared to do some less than ideal jobs while you get there. Don’t give up the goal! To be clear: this is a path for any profession, carpenter, singer, grocery store employee, parent, artist…know that whatever you’re doing, you are giving it your all without compromising your values.
Personally, persistence in getting my education first, being an educator and now to be an artist, was/is critical. Honesty (again knowing myself) clearly showed me I would have no future as a musician or coder, for example. I recognized a gift in languages and teaching which was inordinately fulfilling until it wasn’t.
Flexibility, is, as well, extremely important. Recognizing when something’s not working, seeing the limited opportunities for success and pivoting make it more likely we will find our niche. And, I recognize that flexibility is a very difficult concept for many. Humans like routine and most are not comfortable with change. By being stymied in this area we limit ourselves.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
Every day I experience a profound gratitude for all the people in my life who’ve laid a foundation for me, tugged me forward, pushed from behind, held me up when I floundered or slid, talked and listened as I stutter-stepped forward. I’m even grateful for the doubters and the skeptics. Those people helped build a resistance to negativity and gave me some goals to overcome.
At this stage of my career and life it’s an easy choice to tell you about the impact and influence of my wife, Sandy. When we met I was about four years out from a life deviating crisis, unsure of anything, emotionally healing, recently retired and mostly open to possibility but still a bit hesitant, still wobbling. She is a calming force, logical, insightful. We bonded over languages and children, over a desire to reassert ourselves into happy and fearless gay women. A year after we met we gathered our hiking gear and went to Nepal for a trek in the Himalayas where our connections were cemented in the Outward Bound sense of things.
Sandy is the person who said ‘if you want to be a painter, get in the studio and paint!’ So, I did. Sandy is my fiercest critic with incisive perspectives and loving yet candid honesty.
Beyond my rock, I have made a concerted effort to meet and know fellow artists. They are a coterie of friends and acquaintances with whom I can talk about art, selling art, what mediums to try in the desert conditions of New Mexico, where to find a wood worker to make boards and frames, how to mix ‘that color’ paint. I started the Cerulean Art Salon specifically to encourage ‘art talk’, share ideas and opportunities, grow as artists and people. I also co-founded the Taos Abstract Artist Collective which promotes abstract artists throughout Northern New Mexico via gallery shows, artists talks, workshops, etc. These sorts of interactions with fellow artists nourish me and keep me fully engaged in my art practice.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.karibellart.com
- Instagram: @kbartsnm
Image Credits
Sandra Pierce or an unidentified passerby
