Karen Klinedinst: The Emotional Landscape

Artist statement:

All of us have a deep connection to certain places. We see these places not as they are, but idealize them through our memories.

I draw my inspiration from 19th-century landscape painting ranging from Thomas Cole, George Innes and The Hudson River School painters to Caspar David Friedrich. Similar to these painters, I interpret the landscape and how it affects me emotionally and spiritually. My approach is not about capturing reality, but creating a neo-Romantic world reflective of my memory and imagination.

Thomas Cole believed humans must commune in “pure nature.” Walking in nature is an integral part of my creative process, and forms my point of view. The act of walking allows me to experience the nuances of light, weather and time. It becomes a form of meditation.

All of these landscapes were captured with my iPhone while walking through these special places. Like a painter, I manipulate these images through the layering of textures and colors to express my emotional response to a landscape that exists only in my memory. -KK

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.