Collage of a Southerner

By Brianna Melanson

Christy Kinard’s lively floral paintings characterize her life and observations in the South. Christy thinks of flowers as “songs of the South,” spreading happiness everywhere they bloom with their rich scents and vibrant colors. Her mother took care of a lovely garden in her childhood home and in the center of the dining room table, she’d put out a fresh bouquet in a vase. At that table sat a young Christy experimenting with all kinds of art mediums until she stuck with painting. It is that still life image of the bouquet that embodies a true Christy Kinard masterpiece.

Shain Gallery of Charlotte has been the home to Kinard originals for 20 years. Sybil Godwin, owner of Shain Gallery, and Christy have a mutual admiration for each other. Kinard paintings don’t last long in the gallery as they are very popular. Sybil explains that Christy’s paintings are for everyone and men are drawn to her work more than any other artist’s floral paintings. They could go in a nursery or in an attorney’s office. Sybil states, “Even my children love her work and if I could put one of her paintings in each room of my house I would.”

Shain Gallery hosts two art shows for Christy every year. She has one planned for this fall with a whole new body of work and another in February that will be a collaboration with her sister, also an artist, Kim Schuessler. Christy and her husband do numerous art shows together, too.

Christy spent four years abroad in England renting her own studio in order to immerse herself in international art influences. It was during this time, she ran into London native Jon Davenport. After they got married and Jon moved to the States, Christy inspired and motivated him to become a full-time artist as well. It is evident in his work that he came from the advertising industry, integrating old-fashioned logos such as Coca-Cola into his paintings. You’ll also recognize many faces from Marilyn Monroe to Audrey Hepburn behind the splattered paint. It is amazing how different this talented couple’s work is while still both using mixed media.

In her studies and as a child, Christy always admired collage. Robert Rauschenberg was a great inspiration. However, during the four years overseas, Christy visited a London paper shop that changed Christy’s work forever. She had never seen such exquisite paper and knew she needed to add it to her art. Now Christy orders paper from London, collects scrapbook paper, buys patterned fabric, or even designs her own paper using Photoshop. Designs like polka dots and chevron give the paintings excitement and movement.

Christy has fun fusing words into her work. Sometimes the painting begins from a word and unravels from there. She’ll flip through any magazines that are mailed to her and cut out any interesting words or ads. She especially likes to use designer brand names like Prada and Louis Vuitton in her paintings because of her love of fashion. One of her paintings displayed at Shain Gallery had “What a Wonderful World” repeatedly written around a large vase of flowers. Christy explained that she must have been in a grateful mindset and had the Louis Armstrong song playing on her playlist in the background. She understands the words can be too much for people and will paint simpler floral arrangements without them.

Christy says, “Someway, somehow, everything around me comes into the painting.” It could be diary entries, old recipes, or pictures of flowers taken throughout her journeys in the South. One time, she used her old curtains. Now that she’s living in Hilton Head with her husband and three sons, she is greatly inspired by the beach, so her newer work will involve blue sky and oceanic hues. Plus, hydrangeas, her favorite flower to paint, bloom in her yard. It is all about texture. Flat is boring to her. When you see her work in person, she encourages you to touch her paintings. Feel the strokes, the materials, the extra thick areas of paint.

Easels are set up throughout their house as she works on at least five paintings at a time. She can’t focus on just one, which sometimes makes it difficult for her to do a commission piece. A painting could take her six hours or over two weeks to finish. She’s always in paint clothes ready to create and get lost in her passion. She loves a messy work environment with paint covering the floors to the ceiling. She says, “I’ll pick my kids up from school looking like I just dipped myself in a paint can.” There’s a special paint splatter on her floor that she doesn’t think she would be able to recreate so she photographs it and puts it into paintings. All of these snapshots of her life and surroundings of the South all come together in the petals of the flowers, the vases, and the backgrounds of the paintings.

Christy Kinard has traveled the world, yet will always call the South home. She wants to retain the Southern culture and traditions in her work and show through bold colors how strong Southern women are.