Update: Kiristine Pool was awesome enough to thoughtfully and thoroughly answer many of the questions I posed in the video I made about her and her work. The following is her reply:
Thanks much for letting me know you featured my work on your podcast and have given your listeners information on where they can find my sculpture. My apologies for the delayed response. I was teaching a sculpting workshop last week when your message arrived and my time was entirely engaged in the workshop, quite literally from 6:30 am to 1:30 am most days/nights. Today is the first opportunity to respond.
I’m pleased to hear that looking at my sculpture generated some questions for you, and perhaps your listeners as well. It is always rewarding to know that some doors for conversation have been cracked open from the viewing of my work. Sculpture has been my life-long love and it is a joy to share that with others. While I feel it is a bit of a stretch to consider much of anything I do residing in the horror realm (although the hours I work are sometimes horrible), it is intriguing that artworks shift and change through the eyes of the viewer. Many feel this is the moment in which an artwork is completed - in that very intimate and personal interaction between viewer, their thoughts, opinions and experiences and what all of those things bring to the art they’re looking at.
That said, as you had a few questions during the podcast, I thought I would point you in the direction of the answers on the website, should you be interested.
A muse is a very common concept when it comes to artists and creativity. Think Andrew Wyeth’s Helga and Lizzie Siddal for the Pre-Raphaelites. We all have muses, whether actual people, animals or ideas that inspire us.
As to the passion and back up plans, you’d probably need to actually listen to the five minute talk I did at my Alma Mater - that quote has a very specific background and story pertinent to my development and pursuit of a career in the arts. People fail all the time at things that were considered “the safe choice”, the “fall back plan”, “plan B" - think 2008, company downsizing, aging - people spend their lives doing the safe thing they hate doing and that path can end as suddenly and tragically as one that is considered risky and likely to fail, like careers in any of the arts. The journey of pursuing that which you love, along with the challenges, will lead to an experience of self-fulfillment.
I imagine for your viewership, my “socio-cultural commentary” works probably wasn’t the most interesting selection. That said, if you wanted to know any of the answers to the questions you were pondering, clicking on the tab above the image that says “______ information” would take you to a page in which you could read what I was considering as I created each particular piece. Many viewers wish to see works unencumbered by my words, so I give that option first. For the curious viewer who wants to know my thought process, the information is all provided.
As to the question regarding “what people would do with these things”, again, clicking on the further information tab, scrolling to the bottom of the page will take you to information and images of where the sculptures have been placed/installed, including private residences and museum collections as shown here.
Hopefully, that is a bit helpful. Again, thank you so very much for spending a few moments with my work and sharing your thoughts and considerations with your listeners and with me.
With kind regards,
Kristine
Kristine Poole
Balancing classical inspiration with contemporary expressive realism, Kristine Poole’s work highlights the beauty and inherent narrative qualities of the human form. Featuring themes as diverse and focused as the artist herself, these clay and bronze figurative sculptures open doors to conversation, dancing effortlessly between social commentary, archetypal motifs and imaginative realism.
Winner of the 2020 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize Yasha Young Projects Sculpture category, Kristine’s sculptures have also garnered awards in competitions including Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, The Art Renewal Center’s International Art Salon and Infected By Art, among others.
Her sculpture has been featured in books and periodicals including The Wall Street Journal, Beautiful Bizarre, CAST: Art and Objects Made Using Humanity’s Most Transformational Process, Masters of Contemporary Fine Art, Ceramics Monthly, Ceramics Ireland, 500 Figures in Clay, American Art Collector and Art Ltd.
She has been commissioned to create works ranging from the petite to monumental for various public and private collectors including The Carnegie Library in Michigan, Spectrum, The Denver Comic Con, The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Northern New Mexico. She has received numerous invited artist residency grants including Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts and Buffalo Creek Art Center.
Recognizing the potential for the arts to enlighten and shift perspectives, Kristine has long been a dedicated proponent of encouraging creativity in others. As such, she is a monthly contributor to the Fantastic Art blog, Muddy Colors, and frequently gives demonstrations and lectures on art and business, most recently at the Albuquerque Museum of Art, Las Cruces Art Museum, Northern Michigan University, The Goggleworks and Santa Fe College. She is also the co-founder of the Spectrum Rising Star Award, which recognizes an emerging new voice in the field of Imaginative Realism Art each year.
In 2019, Kristine was honored with a Distinguished Alumni Award 27 years after graduating Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramic Sculpture from Northern Michigan University. She currently lives and creates in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains overlooking Santa Fe, frequently collaborating on sculpture projects with her husband, Colin Poole.
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