Interview with London-based Artist Kiera-Grace
Jewel in the Gallery- May 4
- 6 min read
Kiera-Grace is a visual artist based in London. With a strong interest in investigating memory and archive, she uses photography and painting to create collage-like work. Vibrant oil paint and expressive brushstrokes are apparent throughout her work– which celebrates our innate ability to preserve. Recently rekindling her love for sketching has led to her producing live portraits of people and expanding her practice to being more observational.
Kiera-Grace, can you give us a quick overview of your artistic journey? Just looking over your Instagram before this interview it seems like you’ve been working on some interesting projects recently!
Yeah, so I’ve been pretty creative throughout my whole life, but I started taking it really seriously in university. It’s where I started figuring out what kind of themes I wanted to explore and I discovered my love for oil painting.
I graduated university last July where I studied art and psychology, and I’ve been lucky to have several opportunities to continue pursuing art since then. The first was a two month residency in Peckham, close to where I’m from in South London, where I had studio space and collaborated with the curators of Peckham Festival. It was really helpful to get that curatorial perspective early on. Around the same time, I had some of my work exhibited in London through some collectives I met on social media.
Once that residency finished I wasn’t sure where I’d be able to paint. I didn’t have space at home, so that’s when I got my iPad and started experimenting with digital art. But there was also this studio in Croydon, Conditions, that my tutor from uni told me to apply for. It was a bit intimidating because I had just finished uni at that point, but I applied and was accepted into their 12 month residency program. We are actually having an exhibition at the end of May, so I’m hoping to create a lot of work before then. I’ve been in a bit of a creative block but I’m trying to work through it and remember that not every piece has to be perfect.
On social media I saw your coffee cup portraits, does that tie into this idea of being creative without it needing to be perfect?
Definitely! So I work part time at a coffee shop, and we have such a wide range of customers that come in, so I started drawing portraits of them on the coffee cups and giving it to them. I have to suss out which customer wouldn’t find it weird, but luckily everyone has been loving them! I think there’s something really lovely about drawing people live and giving it to them, because people are always very intrigued by other people’s perceptions of themselves. It’s also been really helpful for me to stay creative at work and to see how much progress I’ve made on drawing faces, because now I can do a full portrait in about a minute. At Basel Art Summer Camp I’m planning to do live portraits as well.
It’s quite unique that you have degrees in both psychology and art. Do you think your background in psychology informs your artistic practice?
I really like to focus on themes of memory and archiving, which I think is definitely informed by my psychology degree. At first I was approaching it from a personal perspective and trying to create an archive without simply taking photos. I was fixated on depicting nostalgic objects or scenes. I still love doing that, but now I’m more focused on how I can make the process of the work and the final composition feel like a memory rather than a snapshot. Recently, I got an airbrush which helps blur the content and relates to how certain parts of memories are quite ambiguous.
Do you find inspiration for these themes, or your art, in any art historical movements?
I love movements that challenge realism. I’m really inspired by Expressionism and Fauvism and how they use colours to depict emotion rather than reality. In my art I’m trying to lean more into using colour, expressive brushstrokes, but also not worrying about being so realistic. It’s okay if it doesn’t look like an actual person, because it’s a painting not a photograph.
Speaking of photographs, you said you got an iPad to create digital art and I also saw that you recently got a portable scanner. Can you tell us more about your experience using these digital formats to create art?
I’ve always been really drawn to mixed media, even when I was a kid I loved scrapbooking and collaging. So I got the scanner because I’ll be travelling a lot soon and I want to keep challenging this idea of what an archive is in an experimental way. So this way when I’m travelling I can scan textures and objects and create a collage out of these scans. I’ve started experimenting with creating these digitally, but I might also add them to my paintings.
I loved seeing the scanner in action on your Tiktok. And to be fair, you’re quite active on social media. How did you get started sharing your art online & do you think it’s an important tool for artists?
It’s kind of a funny story, because back in 2019 I was painting an avocado in my bedroom and my mom saw it and told me that I need to start posting my art online. It was a bit scary to post my work at first, but from there it got a little bit more comfortable. Then when I was preparing for my degree show at the end of my uni degree, I started posting some of it on Tiktok. There was no traction for a while, but I just kept putting stuff out there because I thought it would be useful for me to get comfortable being on camera. I also realised it was important to share more about me as a person, because people may or may not like my art, but they might follow because of who I am. It’s been really great, because I’d say about 90% of the opportunities I’ve gotten in the past year are from social media.
There’s probably a lot of people that are just finishing their art degree that want to be in a similar position to you, having exhibitions and residencies. Do you have any advice for them?
It’s a bit weird giving advice because I feel like I’m still figuring it out myself. But I do have people message me for advice, and the two biggest tips I have are to put yourself out there and remember your why. It’s so important to remember why you started so that whenever you feel lost you can go back to it. And networking can seem scary as an artist, but there’s so many ways to meet people online even if you're introverted or shy. I’d recommend being as authentic as possible on social media so the right people can gravitate towards you. As you connect with people through social media you can message them to meet up for a coffee or visit a gallery, which helps you still have a bit of control over your networking, rather than going to a massive event and trying to find people you connect with. Going to creative events like life drawing sessions at the museums can be a great way to meet other artists too, because you’re all there for a common goal and there’s already a topic you can talk about.
And of course you’ll be joining us as an artist in residency for the Basel Art Summer Camp this June! What drew you to the residency and what are you looking forward to?
I’m really open to new opportunities like this, and the idea of travelling and seeing new art is really exciting. Also, I’m looking forward to meeting new people and having new creative experiences through the workshops and events.
Big thank you to Jewel for capturing Kiera's story!
Come see Kiera's work at Basel Art Summer Camp and if you're lucky you might end up going home with a coffee cup portrait!
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