KRISTA CHALKLEY

When did you start making art? Tell us a little about your background.

Ever since I can remember I was always creating something, whether it was visual art, a play I wrote/directed/starred in that I forced my family to watch, making “potions” in the backyard, or improvising elaborate fictional stories on the spot with prompts from my dad. In college I was working towards a career in graphic design but it wasn’t until my last semester that I switched gears to focus on visual art. I didn’t take my own art seriously until I graduated and I was lucky enough to have friends that pushed me to just keep making– with no expectations and solely for my own fulfillment, and after some persistence something finally clicked

What are the themes that you explore within your work?

I explore how experience, perception, and relationships all collaborate together to form our personal identity and how it can evolve over time. There are so many defining facets of each individual and so many of them are unknown to us. Innate or learned, they influence how our personhood sees the world and interacts with it to make us who we are. Within such diversity of personality, I am especially interested in exploring the complexity of emotions, true authenticity, and our fantastic ability of forming and maintaining connection with others.

Tell us about your art making process.

Traditional processes tend to stifle my creativity and intimidate me because there isn’t a lot about myself that is very traditional. I also don’t stick to just one strict process because that is not how my mind operates– it is always thinking in a myriad of different directions all at once. All of the processes I have experimented with have come about by focusing on a manipulation of the materials to present them in a new manner, often bringing attention to their unique qualities. Referencing the sincerity and connection within my themes, I tend to lean towards transparent or tactile media, and I delight in letting the viewer in on how something is made. It is important to me that my work be approachable and on level ground with the viewer.

What do you think it means to be an artist today that identifies with the vast LGBTQIA community?

I think we are the future. All of existence has proven that nothing in this world is binary except life and death, and the LGBTQIA community is just one example of this beautiful, immense spectrum of life. Unfortunately, society has yet to realize this and it is artists’ duty to move us forward. Every queer artist (whether or not they address their identity within their work) is creating just a little more space for a more dynamic and inclusive world.

How can we see more of your work? Instagram? Facebook? Website? Upcoming gallery shows?

I am in an upcoming show with Third Space DFW titled Once a Day Swallow a Small Sun that will take place online in December and as a physical exhibition at the Fort Worth Community Center in spring of 2021, with an accompanying catalog. I post my current work on my website (www.kristachalkley.com) and on Instagram with any updates at @bonepyramid.