Fort Worth-based artist Claire Kennedy explores materiality and play during her residency at Arts Fort Worth that culminates in an exhibition of new work.
“I brought donuts!”
This is how my studio visit with Fort Worth-based artist Claire Kennedy begins on a crisp January morning. As the recipient of the 2023 Emerging Artist Residency at Arts Fort Worth, Kennedy’s studio is situated on the second floor of the nonprofit’s location in Fort Worth’s Cultural District.
The first piece in her studio to catch my eye, though it’s a work in progress, is a painting of a giant heart. “This one came to me in a dream,” Kennedy tells me. “I dreamt that I lived on a beach in California with a studio space in my backyard and I was standing in front of this huge painting with a giant heart jutting out at me! And I just knew it had to happen.”
I think the heart canvas stands out to me because it feels different from her other work. I wouldn’t singularly label Kennedy a painter, though I also wouldn’t quite say she’s a sculptor or installation artist—even though she is, most definitely, all of those things. Perhaps I would call her a curious magpie, caching shiny objects for rainy days. Or several mischievous kids stacked on top of each other in a trench coat. She is one of those artists whose work precisely personifies her whimsical nature, which may be why she is so hard to pin down.
Because I’ve followed Kennedy’s work for a few years now, I am more than familiar with her affinity towards collecting and creating tiny objects. They might be painted rocks or globs of yarn covered in paint or pom poms sporadically glued to a small shard of plywood. She refers to this extensive stockpile as her “library of objects.”
Sometimes the objects make their way onto a larger canvas or wooden panel. You may also find them consolidated on one of her handmade, misshapen shelves, much like a curio cabinet. And sometimes the objects stand alone—you may spot one hiding in the corner of the studio or discreetly stuck on the wall near a light switch. Her method of placing these various ‘punctuations’ transforms the space, adding an optical rhythm.
“These little objects are haphazard in a way. They allow me to be adventurous,” Kennedy explains. “Because, ultimately, they become one little mark within a larger composition.” Much like a brushstroke, I thought. Some of her studio days are object-focused, designated to finding the perfect piece of cardboard or the ideal pebble, where some days are painting-focused as she brings together her final configuration.
In the center of her studio is a square pedestal with an arrangement of her carefully curated objects placed on top. As we kneel next to the low platform, Kennedy shuffles the pieces around, experimenting with the spacing and scaling of shapes. It is through these silly, trinket-like objects that she derives the most cardinal practice in her studio process: play.
Kennedy is very additive as a maker. Although her paintings might be physically flat at times, the depth in her work comes from the layering of materials. Her process of layering is simultaneously intuitive and strategic, much like her practice as a whole, which is both experimental and thoughtfully controlled.
At some point in the studio visit, Kennedy reads out loud her favorite poem from Maggie Nelson’s Something Bright, Then Holes, and our conversation delves into her relationship with different colors. We discuss the joy in feeling drawn to certain hues and the emotional turmoil in finding yourself moving away from a previous favorite, and how that can impact an artwork.
Sometimes the subtle shift in a color’s shade can be the distinction between a work that is playful and one that is juvenile. At the beginning of her year-long residency, the colors she used were subdued and saturated, slowly becoming bolder and brighter throughout her residency that’s nearing completion. Sunshine yellow. Soft pink. Periwinkle. The power of color is as liberating as it can be fear-inducing.
Equally crucial is her relationship with shapes. “There is a visual noise in my work. I use a lot of repetition of shapes, like stars or polka dots,” Kennedy tells me. “These shapes are all I can think about sometimes. The other day, I saw a flock of geese and all I could picture were these tiny speckles moving in space and I became obsessed with it.”
Some of Kennedy’s pieces explore materiality in a delicate and neat manner, while others embody a more chaotic nature. Regardless of the tone, her playful spirit imbues her work with an innate joy and leaves you with a greater appreciation for the little things in life.
As customary, the twelve-month residency program culminates in a solo exhibition. Kennedy’s Endless Magical Things will take place at Arts Fort Worth from February 23 to March 23, 2024, with an opening reception scheduled for Friday, March 1, 6-9 pm.
