Kristine Kadlec

Lives in: Los Angeles, CA

Art Discipline: Paper-weave Collage

Tell us about your background as an artist:

I create representational still life paper-weave collages using ordinary, common paper materials such as candy wrappers, coffee filters, postage stamps, sewing patterns, Christmas cards, shredded money, magazine pages, brown paper grocery bags, old maps, wrapping paper and newspapers which I call artistic recycling.  Artistic recycling is the process of using pieces of found paper to create useful and beautiful pieces of art.  Strips of paper are woven together and then incorporated into the collage.  What other people consider garbage, I view as a wonderful medium for my paper-weave collage.

I honor my deceased ancestors by naming some of my artwork after my female Czechoslovakian relatives.  I have spent the last several years doing genealogical research and have discovered that my Czechoslovakian surname means weaver.  I have also created pieces that pay tribute to influential women in history such as Shirley Chisholm, Betsy Ross and Anastasia Romanov. 

I studied art, fashion and accessories design at Pasadena City College, Otis Parsons, UCLA and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  My artwork has been exhibited both nationally in group shows and throughout the greater Los Angeles area and I’ve won several grants for my solo exhibits.  My third solo exhibit was held in November 2004 at the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Westwood, California.  My artwork has been published in Artist’s Sketchbook, The Artist’s Magazine, Art Business News, Art Calendar, Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot, Fiberarts and Scrap & Stamp Arts magazine.

I was born in Green Bay, am a former resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and currently reside in Los Angeles, California.  For more information, visit my website at:  http://www.kristinekadlec.com.

How did you get started?  Have you always been interested in art?

After spending the first forty years of my life as a professional drifter, I made the decision to become an artist and writer.  My selection of an art career happened while viewing the Hannah Hoch exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  My love of spiral paper notebooks and yearning to collect pictures from local newspapers confirmed my suspicion that my art medium should be paper.  After years of toying with acrylic paint, dabbling with watercolors and attending any kind of art class that piqued my interest, I finally decided to teach myself the art of collage with the help of Nita Leland’s book, Creative Collage Techniques.

What inspires you as an artist?

Ordinary, mundane paper provides inspiration for my paper-weave collage artwork.  I enjoy transforming common materials and castaway paper into impressive works of art.  Weaving strips of paper from discarded paper sources such as the pages of fashion magazines, I then incorporate the woven pieces into a representational still life collage.  I also collage wooden picture frames to coordinate with my completed artwork.

What are some of the ways you promote and sell your artwork?

I recently participated in the Angelus Plaza Art Auction where my paper-weave collage Leaving Los Angeles sold at the second highest selling price.  An article about the event along with photographs of the artists and their artwork will appear in an upcoming issue of Downtown News Los Angeles.

Staging solo art exhibits, participating in charitable art auctions, entering group exhibitions whenever possible, writing for art magazines and, hopefully, getting some of my artwork published along the way, creating and maintaining my own website – promoting, publicizing and marketing my artwork is a full-time job! 

What advice would you give to someone who is interested in learning collage?

I suggest they borrow every book at their local library about collage and read them cover-to-cover.  Then learn by doing!  Try creating a small collage and see what happens – have fun with it and along the way you’ll find your own unique style.