Riverside Collective is a working studio and retail space comprised of several resident artists, as well as rotating guest artists. We want you to get to know the range and depth of our resident artists and makers, so we've asked them to answer a few questions for us. This month: K. Frances Pape.
What inspires your art?
My art is inspired by the people and places around me. Something clicks inside when I am talking to someone and a new painting is birthed into existence. I believe I need this symbiotic relationship to create. This is one of the reasons why starting the collective was important to me. I wanted a place with a constant flow of energy, ideas, and community streaming through to keep my creative flow alive. I have painted more in the past 2 years than I had previously before opening Riverside Collective. I paint how I feel with the idea that I am releasing something trapped inside that needs to see the light. It feels vulnerable and is not always a good feeling as it comes out but that's a part of the process. The community centered collective has helped me to share things through my paintings that I would normally keep to myself. I am constantly playing with the idea of letting go and giving my inner child permission to play. Through this, I have made things that I am not sure how it came to be but intuitively knew it was the right direction to go in.
How does Saxapahaw influence your art?
Saxapahaw has been the backdrop for most of my pieces since living here. When I make art, it usually involves the people and places I live in as I am experiencing the place in real time. The first Saxapahaw painting I made was ‘Saxapahaw River Swimmers,’ where 3 women are seen basking on the side of the river with the lower mill in the foreground. I was working out of a studio next to the post office and this was the view out the window. I feel it is a time capsule representing the start of my studio career and the pregnancy stage of Riverside Collective. I did not know at the time that I would be painting fulltime and running 2 businesses but I think I would have been blown away by where I am now if someone was to tell me where I would be in 2 years from then.
If you were to speak for your art how would you fill in these prompts?
I feel ... heard.
I need ... to tell my story.
I am ... opening pathways that did not exist before my creation.
What’s your favorite tool and why?
I would say my paint brush because that is an important tool for what I do but I think my silicone clay sculpting tool. It is useful in taking paint away and revealing something underneath that is always a surprise. It can be used to create line work or shapes. It’s pretty fun to play with. I highly recommend it if you have not used this tool before in your oil painting.
What’s one thing that someone who isn’t a painter wouldn’t know about what you do?
I sit and stare at my painting after making some marks and then do this throughout the painting process when the energy starts to fade in my body. I believe that this is the ‘waiting for the light to hit me’ stage. I never want to force anything and try hard not to use my head too much when I’m painting. This staring process lets inspiration hit or an idea or color to emerge. I get a buzzing feeling to impulsively do what comes through and I do it. If that doesn’t work, then I just let the next staring period start over. Painting can be quite meditative if you don’t force anything, becoming the willing vessel for creativity.
What idea or concept are you chewing on right now? Has it shown up in your work yet?
I am working on my next large format oil painting on linen. It is of a Saxapahaw couple standing in front of the Saxapahaw Amphitheatre. The painting is in the meditative stage of growth in which I am allowing what feels right as I build up the landscape around the couple. Everyone knows what these plants look like but It is through a different lens of emotion that I hope to achieve a perspective change for people viewing the painting. Check out the progress during our open hours Thursday-Sunday. Talking through your thoughts can also help move the painting in a direction so come and inspire me!
Are you a rebel with your art in any way? How does that make it better?
I am a rebel in that I am not really listening to my art school critiques in what makes a good painting. I was so bogged down in these professors' advice and take aways that I was immobilized to paint. It wasn’t until after my Fine Art Post Bachelorette that I went on to get my Master’s in Art Therapy when I realized that I paint from my body and emotions and not from a specific technique/ instruction. When I get too in my head, that is when I try to control the process and lose the creative flow. So when in doubt, I trust the process.
