ARTIST STATEMENT & BIOGRAPHY
 

"The art calls to me.  I know it sounds cheesy and cliche. I know it sounds silly, smarmy and utterly romantic.  But it's the truth.  The world around us is a fascinating array of interlocking shapes, lines, shadows and textures and I feel it calling to me, simply waiting to be transcribed onto paper.  I have learned to listen to the world around me and see with more than just my eyes to find the stories and songs and moods and I let them flow through me to give life to my art."

 

  Born May 3, 1972 in Richmond Virginia, Kristi has been an artist her entire life, creating art in some form from the time she learned to hold a pencil.  But until recently, her art was something that she shared exclusively with friends and family, creating special, one of a kind pieces as gifts.  Throughout her life, from earning a Bachelor's Degree in Anthropology from Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg VA (now University of Mary Washington) to raising her two wonderful children, art served as her "escape".  And despite having no formal artistic training, she stayed true to her passion.  She has worked with most of the various well-known media at one point, from oil, acrylic and watercolor paints to graphite, pastels and even fabric and the photographic arts.  But a common theme always seemed to pop up...black and white.  

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While colors can evoke emotions, both good and bad, Kristi has long felt that the use of color naturally steers a person toward a specific interpretation of a piece through the emotions associated with them.  To her, however, black and white exposes the raw, elemental nature of the subject matter and speaks to each person in a different way, letting their own personal experience shine through.  Black and white is elegant and yet simple, timeless and still relevant.  It is both non-assuming and all encompassing.  That's why, in 2020, she ultimately settled on pen and ink drawings as her true passion with her unique botanical style emerging in 2021.

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"I hope that my art calls to you as it does to me!"   

Kristi Noel

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