Kim Louise Gagné
: I love everything that bears the mark of the passage of time - the trace left by the mistakes that we tried to correct :
APRIL’s artists Discussion with VISUAL ARTIST : KIM LOUISE :
Kim,
I am so excited to have you be part of this space & to discuss with us the art you create!
It would be wonderful if you could introduce yourself to us & talk a little bit about your work & what has lead you onto this path.
My name is Kim Louise and I am a visual artist focusing primarily on abstract painting. I work with oils and acrylics, but often the same idea will visit a wide inventory of mediums to better explore the materiality of the medium. These days, I work a lot with botanical pigments and textiles. Exploration and research are very important in my practice. I see my practice as a search for the poetics of space, an attempt to develop my ability to suggest through colours, texture and composition, that inward state of being preoccupied or melancholy. I have a strong desire for intentionality and a desire to reconnect with the present and then celebrate boredom. My work is often described as a combination of raw, soft and sensitive.
I am particularly interested in the representation of emotion in visual art, how the composition of a piece can contribute to the unfolding of its sensibility and affect the viewer's receptivity. How texture and composition can become emotional.
In my work, the textures coexist, the brush marks are visible, the pencil lines. The result must show the process, the history of the work. The work wants to tell. In figurative, the iconography used is chosen for its ability to create emotion or its narrative potential - it evokes domestic scenes, objects and rituals of everyday life. The woman is present, still life, scenes evoking daily actions, nature, a certain melancholy, fatigue. I want to succeed in integrating even more the organic, earthy, imperfect aspect.
While much of my creative work is intuitive, the desired result is more specific: a sober but poetic atmosphere, on the borderline between too clean and too dirty, a balancing act between soft and rough, subtle and coarse - I like the process of creating marks by trying to find the right pressure and angle of the pencil or brush to match the delicacy and quality of the desired rendering. I may repeat a painting several times if I can't find that balance.
If I like to work on classical supports, we also find similarities with Arte povera in terms of the material used. Raw linen or cotton canvas, reclaimed materials, handmade paper and vases can act as supports. Textiles, fibers and natural materials are more and more present as well as mineral and vegetable pigments for dyeing and even painting.
Following the birth of my last daughter, who is now two and a half years old, I have chosen to put aside writing and photography, which I used to practice more but which I am less able to include in my family life at the moment, in order to devote myself exclusively to painting, an art that I have been practicing for about six years, since my return in school to study Visual Arts, when I was 34 years old. In fact, it’s painting and drawing that currently allow me to live connected to my energy level and my family reality, but I also needed for once in my life to direct my attention and energy on one thing and this was what called me the most.
MY PATH TO ART - LATE BLOOMER:
I'm not sure how to describe myself right now, but it would be true to say that I spend most of my time with my family and on my art practice. There really isn't a big distinction to be made between the two. For me, the small gestures and moments of everyday life are just as much creative gestures as my paintings.
I have come to realise that if I am including more and more natural dyeing and painting in my practice, it is because I am able to do so through my family life and with my two year old daughter at my side. I am able to sometime integrate it into our exploring and playing activities and I keep the tasks I can't perform in her presence for the times she is sleeping or away. It allows me to stay in my creative process much longer than if I were to restrict it to my studio. It's always a challenge to create with kids, but as I am a mother since I turned 21, it has always been my truth and I prefer to modify my practice to make it more welcoming to my reality than to restrict the time I am allowed to create.
Also, this practice fits with my need to work with raw, natural, and reclaimed materials, and also with my desire to spend more time in nature - which I sometimes neglect to do when I'm just painting in my studio.
My creative process feeds into my daily life and vice versa. Both have affinities with the principles of Wabi sabi and Slow Living. I love everything that bears the mark of the passage of time and I love the idea of preserving, repairing, patching, celebrating imperfection, the mundane, the simple, the rituals and objects of everyday life. I like the tactile aspect of the work, the trace left by the mistakes that we tried to correct.
Other themes of work include solitude as a tool for contemplation, inner space, and the vulnerability and sensuality of the physical body. I have been teaching yoga for about ten years; again here, I believe that my daily life has nourished my practice and the opposite too.
We will dance, 2021
My creativity has always been expressed in many small ways and since my early twenties I have been described as an artist without having any established practice. I think they were already saying that because clearly my way of looking at things and appreciating them is particular. I think that even though it took me a while to assume this need to create, it transpired enough from me to be recognized. In fact, I believe that for a long time my artistic practice was simply to Be, and then also to have a family. I even wonder if having children at 21 years old was not an unconscious way of giving me the right to create.
I have the imposter syndrome very, very strongly rooted in me. I am definitely a late bloomer. It was really a huge work of acceptance and letting go for me to accept to show my work without it being exactly as I would like it to be. The first creations I dared to show were my texts, then my photographic work - but even then, a lot of my work is still hidden somewhere in my studio. I never really dared to assume any artistic work or consider myself a possible artist until I was in my mid-thirties. I've only been showing my paintings for a few years.
Maybe it's also that I had to come all this way to get to this moment where painting and showing my work is possible for me. It's all new to me to see it as a gesture of sharing and meeting and without this understanding, I wouldn't have been able to do what I'm doing now. Maybe really everything happens in its own time.
So, to get to this part of my life where I assume to be an artist and dedicate myself entirely to my practice, there was personal work to do. I had to accept to show my work even though it is not yet what I want it to be. To accept to show something which is not yet the completion of my work. In my work, I am always looking for the most raw possible, the most sensitive, the most uncluttered and authentic, but I'm not yet where I want to be - but maybe I'll never be and creation is just moving in that direction and if that's the case, not sharing now might be the same as never sharing.
Its so wonderful to get to know so much about the stories behind your work & thought processes.
Art is a journey through life & maybe we will never get to where we want it to be in our minds, but where it ends up will be ever more beautiful than we can comprehend in this moment.
Is there one piece of work you have created which you keep coming back to? One which evokes something more in you? Maybe which inspires your other work, that one piece which holds something special for you?
Since you ask, I think I have a special attachment to certain pieces, but I would describe it more as a special curiosity about them. These are the works that I appreciate a little bit more without necessarily fully understanding why. I notice that these are often the pieces that will mark the transition to another aspect of my practice - suddenly a bit more minimalistic, a bit lighter or darker. As if I associate these pieces with a more decisive moment in my process of discovery, a turning point.
There's one piece that has this effect on me. This is a very small 8x10 painting (shown below). I find that this is one has a more meditative aspect to it - a piece that invites you to settle down. This piece gave me recently the idea to create a series 'on demand' inspired by this painting. It would be offered to those who want to acquire a piece with this aesthetic and a more intimated and sacred character, a particular intention in the creation process - a piece that will be created with a particular energy, in a chosen atmosphere with particular elements. It will be a piece to be included in a personal space that you want to feel precious, a place to rest - maybe a meditative, a creative or a reading space. To celebrate the sacred of this piece, it will comes with the possibility to have an intentional scarf dyed by hand in an equally conscious process and that we could use to accompany our rituals, our meditations and then wear or carry with us during the day as a reminder of this precious moment. So, yes, there is maybe some pieces that make me want to continue to discover them and they are the same, I think, that make me want to continue to create.
Let go of all things that weigh you down, 2021
That's a beautiful way to describe how you feel towards certain pieces. I feel this way also, I have a special curiosity towards the pieces i am creating now & will always as they have led me and moved me into different ways of working.
This new creating process you have described makes so much sense, especially as your work is so much about exploring emotions. Creating art around ritual & something being created to be part of a sacred space makes a piece something truly meaningful & unique to just one person. I'm excited to see what comes from this new way of creating for you Kim!
You talk about work you create through calmness, peace, meditation - are there works you have created through chaos, sadness, anger, & through creating these pieces does this bring you to quietness & help you to process these emotions?
Yes and no! I actually thought for a long time that creating was made easier by its moments of chaos, anger, sadness. Over time, I realize that it's harder for me to create in those states - maybe it's harder to create what I want to create now, I don't know.
But as I am trying to avoid waiting for the optimal moment or a state of total well-being - which rarely happens in the midst of family and daily life - I sometimes have to work in these states of mind and I find that yes there can be something extremely calming and energizing about the creative process by allowing one to bring one's attention back to what constitutes our present moment instead of ruminating on the past or worrying about the future.
If I believe that it is more difficult to create in these states, it is because I’ve observed that if there is a moment of doubt about what we are creating, a moment of dissatisfaction, a moment when we want to erase everything and start again, it becomes more difficult to welcome it and it becomes a moment when it is easier to give up. So yes, the process of creation brings peace and energy, but it also often brings doubt, dissatisfaction and even anger.
About a year ago, I found that meditating before each painting session (as a way to begin this work where I try to put aside my worries) really helps me a lot. And if i rush this moment or skipped it, I realize that there is an instant when my movements become too impulsive and impatient and I need to stop what I am doing to meditate for twenty minutes or so and it makes a kind of reset. It is in this attempt to clear my mind that my best creative moments arise and also that I manage, I believe, to build up sufficient reserves of energy and patience to get through those and challenge that often occur in my practice and in life.
Thank you for sharing Kim, there is something beautiful about letting your emotions run free, accepting them as they are & creating as you work through the emotion/s which is present. Equally as beautiful is creating in a state of peace & stillness, your mind in the present, creating what comes to you when your mind is clear, no overriding emotion to interfere with the creative process.
I can fully relate when you talk about clearing the mind to let your creative moments arise. For me i cant create in any other state other than through stillness of the mind, my creative process requires me to create through repetitive motions & I am more free flowing & truly appreciate the process when I am in meditative state. My art itself is a form of meditation & i am so grateful i have been led on this path & found an artform which helps me to calm my mind.
Along with your meditation practice do you have a place you go to, or a sacred space in your home created to help you return to a more peaceful state? Objects or rituals which calms your mind ready for you to tap into your creative process?
First, I like the idea of not needing anything to bring me back to myself. I think meditation is useful when it allows you to ground yourself in the midst of noise, in the midst of turmoil, even in crisis situations. One of my yoga teacher once said that if we ever face a disaster of any kind, it is probably not falling asleep that will save our lives, but being able to stay present, calm and breathing. I often think of this.
On the other hand, I love rituals. I love to take time. I notice that there is really a mental association that can be made between an object and a feeling. I've been using my yoga mat as a place to ground myself and rest for over a decade, and I would say that now, just being on it and taking a break triggers a feeling of peace.
So, before meditation or tapping into my creative process, there is sometimes music or guided meditation that I enjoy, diffusing essential oils, lighting a candle, but I'm less faithful to that or anything that takes longer to set up and I haven't yet managed to create a ritual space for myself that I haven't invaded and turned into a creative space! For now, for meditation or reading I often sit on my bed with a large hand-dyed linen sheet which I love the colour and texture of - I tend to get cold when I meditate - and I sometimes use a drop of essential oil or one or two spritz of the wonderful Isis purifying mist from Pranic Forest products such as the Isis purifying mist.
It seems to me that adding objects in creation or meditation rituals are a way to tell to my brain that I am ready to be totally present as it is a way of telling to my soul that I love it enough to take the time to give it these little touches. And that's exactly why I chose to work with silk and linen to create some precious hand dyed scarves to incorporate into these meditative moments (sometimes it's easier to create a little impromptu altar by placing a few stones on a small scarf or putting a shawl on your shoulders than to create a permanent space) and then to carry around with me throughout my day as a reminder of my desire to be present and that I deserve to take time simply to give and receive love (and suddenly I think I should call them Love Scarves ) or just to help me get my mind ready to my creative process. But very soon, surely, I will have a little space in my house. I just don't want to let not having one be a stop to any of my practices.
I love that you have such a strong sense of peace when simply taking yourself to your mat & that an object in our lives can evoke such an emotion. When we return back to simplicity in our lives & own only what makes us happy, each pieces becomes sacred. To see how much we treasure each item we bring into our lives & how each pieces of clothing, each little treasure we pick up along the way evokes an emotion, a memory, a love & carrying these loves with us through our days.
I cannot wait to see what comes with your exploration into fabrics, natural dying & how your ‘love scarves’ evolve! They sound delightful Kim.
I just wanted to finish off with saying a big thank you to you Kim for sharing with us & taking this time to talk about your creative path, its been a real honour to share this time & have such a beautiful discussion with you :)
I would like to conclude by thanking you for this wonderful idea you had to make these discussions - getting to know the creative process of other artists is always very fascinating and inspiring. I must admit that I am each time looking forward to the release of these exchanges (same thing for your newsletter!). I believe that such discussions slowly build a space for sharing that can only help us to evolve as artists, as artisans and as a human being.
For all these reasons, I am deeply touched that you proposed to have one of these encounters with me.
It has been an invaluable opportunity to pause and to think about my practice. I believe that in some ways I am never done reflecting on my practice, but your questions and responses brought a deepness that can only be found in the beauty of an exchange and for this I would like to express my gratitude. I feel truly blessed to have had this conversation with you. Thank you.
(and of course, I can' t wait to hear from your next guest!)
The intimacy of being heard, 2021
Purchase Kim’s art through her Etsy Store
Follow along with her creative journey through Kim’s Instagram
All photos are taken by Kim & I have been given permission to use them for this discussion.