Inside Kimberlin Blackburn’s ginger scented studio down Pu‘upilo Road in Kapa‘a, radiant goddesses and glittering palm trees assembled from millions of glass beads, wire and wood surround the artist like amulets from a journey through a sacred land. Listening to
Inside Kimberlin Blackburn’s ginger scented studio down Pu‘upilo Road in Kapa‘a, radiant goddesses and glittering palm trees assembled from millions of glass beads, wire and wood surround the artist like amulets from a journey through a sacred land. Listening to Blackburn describe a life that has thematically informed her multi-media work over three decades, is like watching a great weaver extract pattern from chaos. From textile design to installation sculpture, photographic and book assemblage to painting, Blackburn’s work may be varied in medium, but the story told is consistently personal, reflecting a dedication to her family history and deep love of the land. Blackburn’s work has been exhibited in hundreds of shows, published by Artweek and housed in the Smithsonian’s prestigious Renwick Gallery collection — a third generation Kauaian, she continues to challenge both content and form in her expressive and passionate work.
The unifying aesthetic of Blackburn’s varied and diverse art is vibrant color, texture and multi-layered memory. Akin to the Mexican painter, Frida Kahlo, Blackburn’s paintings and collage fuse geometric patterns, nature and family imagery to depict a somewhat haunting and painful past. The artist attributes the seed of these themes to her mother’s quadriplegic condition, which afforded her a unique and profound experience from early childhood.
“Our house was constantly filled with my mother’s friends and helpers. There were literally 100 female friends that would come and help her to live a ‘normal’ life,” Blackburn said.
She grew up in an environment where people rallied to achieve what some might have seen as an impossible and tragic situation. At the same time, her introduction to art came with her grandmother’s hobbies of sewing and painting. She remembers as a two year-old “finger-painting and playing with scraps of fabric in my grandmother’s house in Kalaheo,” which was the beginning of mixing media that later would become a signature of Blackburn’s oeuvre.
“We left here when I was 3,” she said. Blackburn’s family moved from Kaua‘i to New Jersey, as her mother’s condition required additional treatment not available on-island at the time. It wasn’t until after graduate school that the artist returned to Kaua‘i more permanently — but the island memories of her childhood never completely dispersed and the natural world remained a source of inspiration for her, throughout her schooling at New Jersey’s Livingston College and Rutgers University, where she earned a bachelor’s and master’s respectively.
In Blackburn’s early work she explored life-size installations, macrocosms meant to be walked through, touched and experienced. Using cloth constructions, beads and “junk jewelry” Blackburn created a series titled “Loving Arms” — pieces inspired by her love for nature and specifically a trip in the South American El Yunque rainforest, “where the glory of nature, the flora and fauna, the waterfalls were the most magnificent experience,” she said.
Another in this period titled “Oceania” transformed a room with tattered pieces of fabric hanging from the ceiling, recalling the ocean’s entangling fingers, where the “viewer” would exit and orphaned threads attached to their clothing would remain as a gentle reminder of the residue of water.
Teaching and organizing fellow women artists at Rutgers enabled Blackburn to produce exhibitions and form a peer group that supported each other’s efforts. The group that became a pivotal step in Blackburn’s art administration and creative development called “Women’s Work” was formed by the artist and several of her friends. After the group’s first show, Blackburn recalls, “I was delightfully overwhelmed by the response to the installation piece I had put in the show, from that point on, there was no question I would continue making art. I had started.”
Looking around Blackburn’s studio, images that reflect the divine feminine, god and goddess, fantastical nature and ethereal paradise intersect with tactile materials of paints and beads, old family photos of grandmother with her horse, lost shoes, and grandfather’s dog. Assembled together, whether sculptural or two-dimensional, these pieces beg to be touched and felt. “Good art is visceral,” writes the artist. “It should (rouse) the mind, the body, the soul.”
Blackburn’s story consistently returns to her family’s story and her work mirrors this strong influence. It seems natural that the visceral nature of what Blackburn makes, reflects upon her own mother’s inhibited ability to feel due to her extreme disability. While most artists are primarily concerned with a visual experience of their work, Blackburn’s focus evenly falls on another human sense … touch.
The beaded sculptural pieces reflect the artist’s deep love and connection to the land. “My work glorifies nature … wholesome green environments with life-affirming water microcosms,” writes the artist.
Ultimately the symbols and environments Blackburn creates transcend her personal past and enter the realm of myth or folklore. This series of sculptural work has gained critical recognition and nationwide exhibition. Currently the artist is exhibiting in “Singularity in the Communal Tide” at the Pierro Gallery of South Orange, N.J., under the curator Rupert Ravens, with 30 contemporary international artists. Blackburn recently returned from the opening, where she said, “showing this work in New Jersey is like completing a circle of some sorts,” returning to her childhood state after having lived in Hawai‘i steadily over the past 20 years.
Blackburn served as the president of the Kaua‘i Society of Artists for 10 years. Her dedication to volunteer art administration has led to many of her own career achievements, “getting involved through volunteering always leads to something — it’s a great way to meet people, make connections, you never know what it will lead to, but it always does,” said the artist.
The past few years have been a time of transition from Blackburn’s very public organizing efforts to private incubation and development of her own work. “It’s been a wonderful time to just be here, in the studio, and create.”
Her lifelong exploration of heritage, nature and feminine identity continue to inform the unique aesthetic found in every series she completes. Much like the island of Kaua‘i, which at first glance appears to be simply colorful and beautiful, a deeper look at Blackburn’s work reveals a vibrant, mysterious and sheltering life — pointing to a ghost-like past and a protective and uplifting spirit.
Kimberlin Blackburn’s work is available locally at Davison Arts in Kapa‘a, 821-8022. For more information visit the artist’s Web site at www.akimberlinblackburn.com.
