Before she puts paint to a canvas, Kate Klingbeil starts with a sketch that fits in the palm of her hand. “If it works at 2 inches by 1 inch, it will work larger,” says Klingbeil, 33, who has shown work in New York, San Francisco and recently completed gener8tor’s prestigious local artist program.
Her creations are figurative landscapes that she describes as whole ecosystems. After the small sketch, she draws the composition on a canvas taller than she is and paints a background. Then, the real work begins. She dries acrylic paint to make tiny, almost sculpture-like pieces that she collages onto her painting. Common creations are trees, horses, leaves and her most recent fascination, roots. She likes to use pins to experiment with different placements before gluing them on.
“The physicality of the work is very important to me,” Klingbeil says. “I need to be moving around and I have to make things that are large-scale so that I can feel my whole body in the painting.”
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The result is thick, textured work that she feels represents the layers of our Earth. And within those layers are pieces of Milwaukee – rocks, glass, bones and other finds she sources while beachcombing along Lake Michigan. “There’s something really beautiful about taking trash and making it treasure,” she says.
Klingbeil will spend at least a month on a painting, but more often three. As each piece comes together, she hopes it sends a message about the world we live in and the need to care for it.
“I am really interested in connecting our humanity with the environment as a way to help people see the importance of our natural world as something to protect,” Klingbeil says.
