Kristen is a painter, illustrator, and mixed media artist who lives with her family in the village of Yellow Springs, Ohio. After teaching art in school for over a decade, she currently stays home with her 4 young children where she tries to weave creative living into everyday life. Her work can be described as colorful, organic, interactive, layered, and whimsical. It's her form of storytelling and she loves crossing into new territory with unfamiliar mediums, It's always been her place to let go, take risks, get messy, and feel alive.
Born and raised in the mountains of West Virginia, Kristen was encouraged to follow her creative urge to make things from a very young age. She attended Stetson University in Florida to receive a BFA in art and then received her masters in art education at Savannah College of Art and Design in 2011. A couple months after graduating, she started teaching art at an independent school in Georgia. Teaching art to children quickly became her "happy place" and was constantly inspired by the depth and authenticity of their beautiful imaginations. She also discovered how much she loved dipping her toes into multiple projects across various mediums all at once.
From 2013- 2016, Kristen and her husband got married, bought a house, and started their family. Kristen continued teaching and creating her own artwork on the side as she transitioned into motherhood. Their hearts grew as their lives became hectic and beautiful and unbelievably full. Kristen scaled back and started working at the school part-time so that she could spend more time at home with their little family. Art projects still existed, but they took the form of nursery designs and wall murals, floppy little storybooks for her children, handmade Halloween costumes, holiday crafts, and fingerpainting sessions. Finding "balance," which never seemed to come naturally to begin with, but it became even more challenging.
In 2019, they moved into a new house (that was previously an airbnb) and converted the suite behind the house into an art classroom/studio, called "Studio on Central." She began hosting art workshops for children in this space, as well as leading weekly art gatherings and lessons for adults. Their 3rd child was born in 2020 and, following the pandemic, Kristen scaled back her teaching hours to only teaching once a week. In the following years, Kristen slowly began prioritizing studio time again and picked up new skills: punch needling, weaving, scroll sawing, and digital illustrating on pro-create, Again, she slowly began participating in small festivals and fairs and exhibited her work locally. She was commissioned to paint 3 large outdoor murals in 2021 and 2022, While outdoor mural painting was new territory, these murals quickly became some of her favorite projects.
When 2023 rolled around, Kristen and her family made the bittersweet decision to leave their beloved community in Georgia to move up north to live closer to family. They settled on a wonderful little village in Ohio, close to where her husband grew up, which instantly felt like home. That summer, they welcomed their 4th and final child into the family and transitioned into their new lives. Currently, Kristen is working on balancing motherhood, home renovations, and her daily art practice with a desire to connect with other artists in the community.