“I am an artist whether or not my work is shown and sold. I am an artist who wants to share my art because we should all share what we are creating. This is what weaves and holds us together in the vastness of life.”
Katie
Chandler
Artist, Painter, Outfit Creator
Describe your path to becoming an artist and what drew you to explore painting.
As a child I played a lot with various art materials, especially with my sister, Emily. We are two and a half years apart in age and we spent a lot of time drawing, coloring, and acting. We got a lot of fun clothes passed down from our older cousin, Sarah. We’re talking about cute Laura Ashley dresses and clothes that looked straight out of an American Girl book series.
My doll was Kirsten, so I would often wear these long, prairie style dresses, and play around in our backyard with my sister. We’d pretend to be on the Oregon trail, camping and exploring nature. I think this experience plus having a grandmother who was also an artist helped me forge my own identity as an artist.
I have been making art for a long time. I watched my grandmother make art in her home studio and saw her have her first solo show in my hometown of Sumter, South Carolina. I wanted to be like her; creative, experimental, and have the courage to try new art mediums. When my sister and I stayed with our grandparents for a week or so in the summer, she would set us up with drawing paper and pencils or have us use etching paper, you know the kind that has different colors underneath, and you scratch away the black, chalk coated surface to reveal the colors underneath your drawing.
I was not very confident as I grew older, in high school and college, about my art making abilities. I loved interior design, fashion, and photography - often being the subject of some fun photo shoots with high school friends where we would create various characters through clothes, makeup and styling - I just needed more practice on the building blocks of art making to better understand what it is I wanted to create. I finally felt that kindness and artistic support during my graduate school art education program with printmaker, Mary Robinson, where her studio environment was uplifting, positive, and affirming to all creatives.
The internet can be a cruel place, but I’ve found some really great internet friends who share dressing challenges and participating in those challenges really helped me to grow and try more things!
Being a public school art teacher for a decade really helped foster a love for painting. I taught so many types of courses over the years: ceramics, 2-d, 3-d, photography, printmaking, painting and advanced placement art history.
What I enjoyed most was seeing students' confidence grow in finding out that mistakes can happen when you’re creating, and it’s not the end of the world.
From those “mistakes” something really beautiful can grow. It’s an opportunity to relax with oneself, to not take it so seriously, and to know you can keep trying or make something new from it.
I’ve always loved to play dress up and try on different characters for myself for the day. Getting dressed and experimenting with colors, textures, accessories, etc has positively impacted how I view myself especially as I have gotten older and my body has changed in the process.
I enjoy having the luxury of a fluctuating body and experimenting with creative ways to express those feelings.
I am limited in my knowledge of brands, trends, designers and all that, but what I do know is how things feel when I put them together-what sits right and what might need a little more tension.
The internet can be a cruel place, but I’ve found some really great internet friends who share dressing challenges and participating in those challenges really helped me to grow and try more things!
“The most important lesson I have learned is that in the right community making art is not competitive.”
What have you learned about yourself through making your art?
What’s an important lesson you’ve learned about forming an identity in sharing and making art?
What has it taught you about community?
The most important lesson I have learned is that in the right community making art is not competitive. It is a part of the human experience where we freely share ideas and our lived experiences to support one another on our artistic journey.
At first, I had a deep wound when I began sharing the art I was creating. I wanted to be liked, understood, and valued. I wanted to make art in order to make money, because that is what I saw as being the pinnacle of success. I have unlearned this through therapy and through the wonderful support and encouragement I have found in the visual and performing arts community in Columbia, SC.
I am an artist whether or not my work is shown and sold. I am an artist who wants to share my art because we should all share what we are creating. This is what weaves and holds us together in the vastness of life.
“Over the years, I’ve found my art has come from ideas that surface through travel, poetry and literature, movement practices like yoga, and a deep desire to just play. .”
You’ve been honest and open online about ADHD and neurodivergence. Could you tell me about that journey and how it’s impacted you and your creative self?
Oof, it has been a journey!
To finally be diagnosed with ADHD has been the missing puzzle piece to understanding myself. I have found a community online and my husband has learned so much about ADHD in order to support me. I was masking so much, and still do sometimes, and that’s something I’m learning is figuring out how I can use my ADHD to hone in on my creative self. I find that the “sidequest” part of ADHD to be so true for me, especially in having multiple art projects going at once.
I absolutely love to have what the Juice Box creative community creator, Rachael Rene, calls “parallel play” when painting or working on something creative or care tasks.
Parallel play is basically like body doubling which is a great resource where to meet up virtually or in person with a pal or group and you all work on something. It helps get me, and other creatives, I imagine out of the “stuck” feeling where we don’t know where to start. It’s like show and tell!
Describe yourself as an artist in 5 words.
Curious
Experimental
Playful
Colorful
Sidequest Gal
Where does your art come from and how do you stay inspired to paint and create new work?
I’m inspired by local artists in my community, artists who I follow their body of work, and favorite artists from studying art history. I’m inspired by the students I’ve taught, whether that was in a classroom or workshop setting, and how we were able to share ideas and try new techniques together.
Over the years, I’ve found my art has come from ideas that surface through travel, poetry and literature, movement practices like yoga, and a deep desire to just play. I enjoy seeing an artist use materials I’ve never tried and then trying them myself. To me it is a way to stay curious and non-judgemental in my creative process.
If you could meet any artist living or dead who would it be and why?
I’d love to meet Alma Thomas, Helen Frankethaler, or Sam Gilliam. I am inspired by their work and feel very connected to the experimentation processes of the Color Field Movement artists. I’d love to visit them in their studios or homes and just talk about their lives and art processes. Just to be in their presence would be divine.
What does the act of making art/dressing/painting do for you?
It depends on the moment and circumstances. Sometimes it’s a way to get energy flowing, lift my mood, and feel like something bigger than my internal thoughts matter in that moment. Sometimes I imagine it’s probably what people who like exercise feel when they’ve pushed themselves through a tough work out: a release of some sort, with a lot of adrenaline and a sense of pleasure through accomplishing something they set out to do.
What’s coming next for Katie Chandler Art?
What do you dream about for the future?
Up next I have my first solo show at Motor Supply Co with the Jasper Project from July 8 - October 4.
I want to create a body of work through some nostalgic imagery, certain memories, and honor some of the people that helped me in my life. A reflection of life and grief and finding oneself through the ebbs and flows of life. I want to explore more techniques and incorporate printmaking into large scale mixed media paintings. My dream for the future is to apply for residencies and more shows.
I also recently started a mobile art studio called ColorParty! This project brings together my love for teaching and community. My goal is to provide creative art experiences for all ages where people can learn a new skill, try something new, and share that experience with their people.
My big dream would be to open a gallery with artists' studio spaces on site. A place where I can cultivate community with workshops and classes, exhibit local artists work, have a lending program for art resources and materials, and have listening or viewing parties for performing artists too! (If you’re reading this and want to join in on making this dream happen, reach out!)