Meet Kristen Diederich

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

Kristen, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.

For me, generosity and empathy are inextricably linked. It is from my sense of empathy, which permeates my work that generosity arises. It is from my understanding and sharing the common pool, which some call the interconnectedness of all life that my art develops into generosity. How can one see and not also share that vision?

This comes through in my statement for my solo show opening Nov.1st at Chefas Projects – In my process there is an empathy for that which isn’t human, reflected in the quickness of the instrument. From this body of work I’ve developed an understanding that nothing within nature is accidental but rhetorical.

It is through my most recent body of work that I find this sense of interconnectedness between not only humans, but all the natural world. A stone falls here and a Mountain appears there. It is tomorrow’s question whether or not the mountain is a benevolent obstacle. To follow this logic is also to understand how empathy and generosity blooms from loss and adversity. It is a journey which requires potency of vision and an understanding of the work we have ahead of us.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

This past year has been busy, starting with an exhibition of my paintings with After/Time gallery in Portland, Oregon and at The Old Church performance hall in April 2024. I also gave my first artist talk at After/Time days after herniating a disc in my lower back, which completely changed my life for the rest of the year. That’s a whole other story. When I A/T invited me to show a painting in a group show at Tryst International alternative art fair in Torrance, CA with artist Kaitlyn Carr as curator, I jumped or rather gave an enthusiastic head nod.

I’ve transitioned into focusing on my painting career after years of hosting live literary arts and hospitality cross-over events, often in my painting studio within North Coast Seed building or in bars around Portland, Oregon. This has me traveling more for work as I plan on expanding my practice to include both east and west coasts. I recently held two residencies in Mid-coast Maine this year. During the Summer, my partner and collaborator, artist Devin Ludwig and I enjoyed staying at the Waldoboro Inn, a restored 19th century inn. We quickly returned in preparation for a solo show this Summer with Carver Hill gallery in Camden, ME. Thanks to Whitehead Light Station on Whitehead Island for opening up space on their historic property to paint and soak in peak foliage during the month of October.

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?

My friends often tell me my best quality is my open-minded resourcefulness. I’ve always been one to find inspiration in what is readily available and in my community. This is linked to my upbringing as my family moved around a lot.

I learned at a young age that I have a different way of communicating. So much of this process is visually expressed through making art — painting or jotting down a line for a poem. This has been my greatest challenge and blessing. Keeping up this constant dialogue between my visual art and my writing practice has been paramount to my career. I constantly have devise ways to keep things interesting. Sometimes this means switching up which new tool I use, others I switch up my environment, maybe walk to a neighborhood bar to sketch.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?

Currently I’ve been navigating painting on the east coast with my official studio on the west coast. This means figuring out logistics on the fly and being as prepared as possible knowing much is subject to change at any given moment. At one point while painting on Whitehead Island this October, I was subject to the tides and wind. My large painting became a sail pushing me towards some large rocks on the beach.

More importantly, this past month Fed Ex recently lost a shipment of four very large paintings that I shipped from my studio in Portland, Oregon to the gallery in Maine. I hope the lost paintings are found someday, but for now I will continue to paint more large canvases.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kristendiederich.com/
• Instagram: @kdiederichstudio

Image Credits

All photos of Kristen Diederich by Devin Ludwig,

Personal photo of Kristen Diederich at Chefas Projects by Willy Giambalvo