Gracie: How do you combat the pressure to box yourself in? To explain yourself? To be easily digestible, especially on social media?
Kyra: “I don't really know if there's a good way against boxing yourself in. I think it's so common, especially because we're all so online, and I think you're successful if you have a successful brand. So it's all about knowing which way to brand yourself. And for me personally, I'm always questioning if my website and my Instagram are doing too much or too little of one thing or another, and I'm always trying to decide if I should focus on one thing or expand to more things. For example, is it okay if I post a YouTube video or does that make me less of a serious artist? Or should I take the more illustrator route and be posting Instagram reels? And I just can't decide what kind of artists I should be because I'm looking at how other artists are doing it, and I think I have to fit in one of those categories. I think the only way to not get stuck is to know that it's boring if every artist is the same. And so you have to be always checking in with yourself, and making sure that you're making what you want to be making, because if you're not making what you want to be making, then the work is less impactful. I think art is most authentic when the artist is like really feeling it. So I don't want to take that spark away from myself by saying, I should be more graphic design focused, or I should be doing more big group gallery shows, like, no, I should just be doing me. I should be doing me, and also, that's okay if the way I work changes, and I grow, and I make different art, and my artist statement changes, and my website changes, and my branding changes. I think that's just the way it is. Actually, what's helped me with this is that I went to the Portland Art Museum and did you know that Mark Rothko was like born in Portland or he lived in Portland for a while? He went to high school here, so they've got a lot of Mark Rothko stuff there. Obviously, we know Rothko as making those big color swatches, whatever. But there was all sorts of stuff in there in this little Mark Rothko room that we had never seen because he changed and he started by making some stuff and the colorful ones are just his most famous ones. But he wasn't defined by one thing either. We placed that kind of limitation on him afterwards.”
G: What kinds of limitations have people tried putting on your work and practice you had to push back against?
K: “Well, I’m still very early in my art career so as far as limitations go I feel it's more about just managing people's expectations and like having to hear everyone's take on what I should be doing. Because everyone has a different perception of my art and what it should become, and I am young and searching for pretty much any help I can get in building my art career but listening to all the different voices can get you stuck because I’m not sure anymore which box I want to fit in. For me, my biggest questions lie in whether I should be making silly illustrations and animations or being a full-time painter and focusing on my more “serious” work, but I guess what I’m trying to say with Mark Rothko is that you can be both and I’m just trying to figure out how to do that.
And by the way, I think that it’s obviously not just Mark Rothko but pretty much every artist if you look into their history is doing more than one medium or more than one style throughout their career. I think it’s just so common that we associate each person with their own one singular thing when we can probably benefit from having multiple outlets.”
G: What gives you the confidence to change your mind?
K: “Well I think that changing your mind comes naturally, I feel like it’s kind of a gut feeling in any regard not just with art. The hard part is letting other people in on that because it can be vulnerable. But with art making I would say that no one knows your work better than you, even if you’re like me and have no idea what’s going on. Changing directions can be just quiet experimentation, nothing so crazy. And that confidence I think just stems from a belief in what you’re doing and in your process. And that something better will come from trying new things, or maybe you just make some terrible art, so what? Throw it away and on to the next one.”
G: When/where do you feel most real? Most like yourself?
K: “Well, at the risk of sounding cheesy, I really think I feel most like myself when I'm dancing. And I know it because I only do it when I'm either by myself or with the people who are closest to me. And it's very like, I don't know, I feel like it's so freeing and it's like all the good things that come with exercising, but it's a lot more like intuitive and free and authentic than exercises. And I think all those ancient cultures that were so making dances all the time were really onto something because I feel like so creative and so confident when I dance. And sorry, most of you guys will never get to see that.”
G: What keeps you grounded?
K: “Things that keep me grounded are having goals and having a routine. And I didn't think I was one of those people, but I have found, um, without the structure of school or whatever, just living on my own, that I will just sit around and waste all my days off unless I make a plan of what I'm going to do. So I write lists, sometimes daily lists, usually like weekly lists, so I have something to work for and I'm not just getting lost in the day to day. Something else I did this year and also last year, is making a bingo card of goals I have for the year. Those are like, they're bigger goals, but they're not like super unachievable. They're reachable and they are exciting to me. So I'm trying to get bingo- I’m trying to get blackout, actually, on my bingo card. And that makes me excited to like get up and put in the work. Other than that, just stuff I enjoy: reading, writing, playing volleyball. Yeah, that's it. That's what keeps me grounded. I don't know if I'm very good at it, but I'm trying my best.”
G: As an artist, do you feel a heightened pressure to say something important?
K: “Absolutely. And I think that just comes from the fact that all the artists we see in museums, on Instagram or learn about in art history, are famous for something. They're famous for a reason. And it's not just because they just love to make art, it's because they're making art that is doing something. It's making change or it's saying something relevant about society. And we need art like that, you know? That's the kind of art that can draw people into the art world for the first time or like really make a lasting impact on people. And so to me, that's like what the height of what an artist is-if they can affect the people around them and like really make a statement. Like, that's what I was taught, you know? But in my own practice, I'm not really trying to say anything at all. I just have these images in my head and I feel the need to make them. And it's hard for me to really say like, I'm not making it about my identity, really. I'm not making it to change the world. And that makes me think sometimes maybe it's less important. But there are all kind of artists out there and this is something I'm learning, like, I don't really necessarily want to be one of the artists that's in a museum anyways.
There's different roles art can play, and not all of it has to be or even can be super, super impactful because then it just wouldn't work, you know? You need some art to fill other niches. So basically, I'm just trying to focus on what I like and then meaning and importance can come after. But yeah, it's something I'm thinking about all the time, but I'm just trying to manage my expectations and make sure that at this point in my career, I'm just being authentic and making what I want to make.”
G: Your art has always depicted the stuff you love. What’s the stuff you hate? Do you make work about that?
K: “Some things that I hate are arugula. Uh, I think it's just too spiky and bitter and gross. And also, while we're on it, what are those things called, bean sprouts? Hate those, okay? And I hate when it's after midnight, and you say, tomorrow, let's do blah, blah, blah. And someone goes, ‘don't you mean later today?’ I just think that is the worst because everyone knows what I mean. And you had to interrupt me to tell me that it's actually the next day now-that is so rude. But no, I don't really make art about things I hate. I guess just because if I'm gonna be in the studio with them, I want to enjoy looking at my work when I'm done. I don't wanna be angry about it. So I at least have to like how it looks aesthetically. But I will not be making any arugula art. I did make, um, I did make some work about winning and losing, and I guess that kind of touched on things I hate a little bit, but, I feel like the things I hate never really pan out all the way. I tried to make some political cartoons too, when I was feeling really angry. And they just don't turn out as good, I think, those projects. So I have to stick with what I know and love.”
G: Top 5? Bottom 5?
K: Top 5-
1. Portland Trail Blazers (even though they suck)
2. Either/Or by Elif Batuman
3. Kumihimo bracelet making
4. Tempera paint sticks
5. Having a legit skincare routine
Bottom 5-
1. Junk journals
2. Bugs in my bathroom
3. Feeling dizzy
4. Shows that only have 8 episodes (BRUH)
5. I can’t think of anything else
G: What’s your favorite and/or least favorite thing on the internet right now?
K: “My favorite things to watch is apartment tours because the people posting those are always having to coolest apartments and I like to imagine myself living in them. Least favorite is the ice spice song from the SpongeBob movie. Also the ads on Pinterest are really getting to me.”
Kyra Hartigan is a Portland based painter, illustrator, and printmaker. In her work she examines the natural vs artificial by combining scenes from nature with symbols of technology and fantasy. With an interest in science fiction, things found in a junk drawer, and her home in the Pacific Northwest, she seeks to make colorful and eye-catching work that immerses the viewer in a new world.
Acess her website here