ARTIST STATEMENT
I create mixed-media sculptures, paintings, and performance art. Some recurring themes in my work include women’s rights, environmental collapse, and the beauty of systems working together. Materials play a significant role in my work, utilizing recurring items such as yarn, fabric, and flowers. Some pieces have sentimental value, such as my grandmother’s old fabric and items I collect from nature, like wood, flowers, and rocks, which evoke fond memories of a place I’ve visited. Also aware of overconsumption, I blend discarded items, such as paper and plastic, giving these waste materials a new life instead of throwing them away. I toss these items around to see what I can build and make connections with items that usually don’t belong together. With all the materials colliding, they begin to connect and create their own environment. My work becomes chaotic and playful, but I see things connecting as a whole. I feel a sense of peacefulness and magic when materials merge. I think of worlds uniting or how I can build a better one.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Kristen Martin-Aarnio is a mixed-media painter, sculptor, and performance artist. She recently received the Individual Artist Finalist Award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for her sculptural work. Kristen holds art degrees from Greenfield Community College in Massachusetts and the School of Visual Arts in New York. She is an active member of ProArts NJ and the National Association of Women Artists. Throughout her career, Kristen has participated in numerous exhibitions, including those at the Queens Museum of Art in New York, the New Jersey State Museum, the Venice Biennale in Italy, ICA Watershed in Boston, and the Monmouth Museum in New Jersey. Currently, she resides in Bayonne, New Jersey, and has an art studio at Project Studios in Jersey City, NJ.
© Kristen Martin-Aarnio