Over the past several years, I have been exploring work that comments on the manipulation of nature for profit. Through drawing and site-specific environments, I invent worlds that are frequently strange and ambiguous, owing much of my inspiration to ecological issues. Informed by passionate engagement with socio-political narratives, I aim to make work that cultivates a public dialogue.
I use gouache, graphite, ink, acrylic and collage to create hybridized versions of seemingly familiar yet peculiar scenarios. In my studio I take on the role of a biologist, dissecting images and classifying forms, paying close attention to the patterns and oddities in nature. Through continuous and detailed reworking, each mark is thoughtfully considered before making it onto the page. Using reference materials such as vintage medical books, 20th century agricultural magazines, and scientific journals I strive to create elegant ecosystems within the context of disturbing genetic realities.
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Kirsten Stolle was raised in Massachusetts, lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 19 years, and recently landed in the beautiful mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. Kirsten is a visual artist working in the mediums of drawing and mixed media and has most recently explored installation and sound environments. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the San Jose Museum of Art, (San Jose, CA); Crocker Museum of Art, (Sacramento, CA) and the Minneapolis Institute of Art, (Minneapolis, MN).
Solo exhibitions include Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco, CA (3); The Artery, Asheville, NC; Julie Nester Gallery, Park City, UT; and Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, NYC, NY.
Her drawings have been published in SLICE magazine, Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center’s International Drawing Annual (INDA 7), and New American Paintings (2). She is the recipient of the Dave Bown Projects Award, a Cultural Equity Grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission and grants from Artists’ Fellowship Inc. (NYC), Change Inc. (FL), Creative Capacity Fund (CA) and The Peninsula Community Foundation Grant (CA).
She has been awarded residencies at the Ucross Foundation for the Arts (WY), The Millay Colony for the Arts (NY), Blue Mountain Center (NY), Oregon College of Arts and Crafts (OR), Anderson Center (MN), Spiro Arts (UT) and Ballinglen Arts Foundation (Ireland).
Stolle received a BA in Visual Arts from Framingham State College, and completed studies at Richmond/Kensington College (London, England) and Massachusetts College of Art (Boston, MA).
