The art world often features show called Artist Retrospectives. Retrospective’s are shows featuring a lifetime of artworks or could be just a body of work an artist made during a particular stage or period in their artistic careers. One of the most famous might be Picasso’s Blue Period.
So why it is a retrospective a big deal? A retrospective is a show of a body of works the artists has created over their time of painting or making art. In Siskiyou County it is rare to see a retrospective or even a one artist show. There just isn’t the gallery space.
What might visitors expect to see? One should be able to look at work and learn about the artist’s style and how that style has evolved over time. Artwork, like life, should be a growing process. Few of us are the same person we were ten years ago and I’m hoping to see changes for the next ten years. The work of an artist should be expressed and evident in the work they create.
The Anne Kinkade opening at the Siskiyou Arts Museum retrospective is a terrific example of the process of an artist in 30+ paintings. Anne started out painting watercolors, but is now best known for her encaustics. Watercolor is about the flow and shape of color painted on flat paper. Encaustic is about multiple layers, color and is rich in textures. Many of the paintings between her early work and later encaustic the viewer can see how she has explored texture. Watercolors are usually painted rather quickly and encaustics are layers built upon layers taking much more time. In all of her work you can see Anne loves color!
Anne Kinkaid standing in the Siskiyou Arts Museum.
Link to an interview with Anne Kinkade: http://www.mtshastanews.com/article/20130228/NEWS/130229758