News

UA - Pulaski Tech artist to show new work in Pine Bluff

UA-PTC Instructor of Visual Arts Kim Kwee has an upcoming solo exhibition, A Simple Heart, at the Art and Science Center in Pine Bluff, in the Kennedy Gallery.

The opening reception for this exhibition will be held on Thursday, May 11, from 5-7 pm. The show is open through July 8.

This is a new body of work, her first new work in the last three years.

"A Simple Heart is a set of 19 paintings, fabric works and assemblages representing a series of investigations into family, specifically mothers and daughters, and the shifting ontological status of dolls, decorative objects, and ephemera like the vintage paper dolls I collect," Kwee said.

Kwee said she drew inspiration from surrealism, Miriam Schapiro’s “femmages” (her process for creating art, in which she began to combine painting, textiles, and paper into collages), and the Demeter and Persephone story from Greek mythology.

“My background is not in traditional painting. I explored expressive, abstract drawing in mixed media as a student,” Kwee explained. “Because of this, my work embraces active drawing, making evident the performative aspects of mark-making. My approach to painting retains the physical and temporal engagement of drawing as well as sculptural fabric components and collage. For me, this combination of materials and techniques most closely communicates the way sensation and memory converge. Piecing together fragmentary components is a way of working through regret, forgetfulness, and fears.”

The Little Rock native has been teaching drawing and design at UA - Pulaski Tech since 2010. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting in 2008 from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where she explored a wide range of contemporary media and strategies. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio art with an emphasis in printmaking from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. She lives in Little Rock with her husband and daughter.

For more information about Kwee, visit her website, kimkwee.com.