For some artists, perhaps the only other thing more valuable than their work is time—time to create, and time to think about creating. Such time was an elusive thing for artist Carol A. Kemp, who goes by the moniker of CarolK.
To make the most of what she had, she committed to a project that would keep her focused on art as much as possible.
Face A Day was born in August 2006 out of Kemp’s need for a deadline to keep her motivated to work on her art. She committed to creating one face a day for one year. The result was a collection featuring faces, both human and animal, some in paint and some just sketches.
Kemp said she started the face work because of her love of eyes. On her blog, she reports, “As an artist, eyes are my very favorite symbol to draw, and since faces are attached, it is only logical to add the rest of the features.”
She explained that eyes are important to giving life to her creations: “For me, as an artist, when I was able to do eyes that to me came alive, I thought, ‘Wow, I can make something look like it’s looking at me, and it comes alive.’”
Overall, the exercise gave Kemp plenty of practice in face art. It also gave her inspiration, because some of the faces evolved into other works. Overall, she said, the feat was satisfactory but challenging.
“When I was finished, I didn’t do a face for a while,” Kemp explained.
She sold many of the works that came out of her project, and kept others, but all of them were special to her.
“Sometimes you get attached to them, but that’s also part of the practice, to let things go,” she said. “If someone really wants something, it feels good to let it go.”
Some of the work will be on display during September at the Grossman Gallery in Lompoc.
Kemp has always been creative—but not always in art. She studied costume design at UCSB, where she graduated in 1983. Her work has been featured in Cloth Paper Scissors, 1000 Journal Pages, 1000 Art Jewelry Inspirations, and Mixed Media Self Portraits, which is due out in September of this year.
She continues to teach art to people of all ages and works and teaches at the Art Clinic in Solvang with her art partner, Syd McCutcheon. She didn’t always have this much time to devote to her art, though.
“When my son was 3, he would literally block me from going to the room to paint,” Kemp said. “He didn’t like the way I’d leave him to paint.”
She explained that she never actually left her son to paint, but mentally she wasn’t as available as he liked.
“When you’re painting, you, like, go into a different place,” she said. “He’d ask me questions, and I thought I was answering him, but I wasn’t. I really couldn’t speak.”
So she gave up painting for a while and focused on jewelry making, which took less of her focus away from her son. She evolved her jewelry line and continues making jewelry today, but finds herself drawn inexplicably to painting: “There’s a challenge. It’s never finished; it’s never good enough. I don’t even know what it is I’m trying to fulfill.”
Kemp keeps chasing that something through her work. It’s a chase she finds irresistible.
“Taking paint and putting it on paper, there’s this magic that happens, and it touches you in a way that maybe there’s no word for it,” she said.
INFOBOX: Face the day
The Face of It, featuring paintings and assemblages in mixed media by artist Carol A. Kemp, will be on display from Sept. 2 to 30 at the Grossman Gallery at the Lompoc Library, 501 E. North Ave., Lompoc. A reception with the artist will be held at the gallery from 4 to 6 p.m. on Sept. 13. For more information, call 875-8775.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone finds someone named Chase irresistible. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 4, 2008.