Bulgrin Interview

Dwayne Butcher's Artist Interview with Kendra Bulgrin 5/30/07

Kendra Bulgrin recently received her MFA in Studio Arts from the Memphis College of Art. Bulgrin is originally from Wisconsin and is currently living and working in Lawrence, Kansas.

Dwayne Butcher: The titles of your paintings come from Susan Stewart poems. How did you first encounter her work and how has reading them affected your work?
Kendra Bulgrin: Diane Nesin first passed on Stewart's book "On Longing, Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection" I found the book dealt with many of the same issues I was considering with my use of miniatures. Her work definitely struck a chord with me and I started reading more of her work in preparation for my thesis. I can’t say enough about her writing...its poetic...smart...all encompassing.
DB: The six paintings you have exhibited in your thesis show all are part of a rural setting. Explain this setting and what it means to you.
KB: I lived in a rural area of Wisconsin my entire life and continue to draw from experiences I had growing up. More recently, about two years ago, I found my birthparents.... my birthmother comes form a long line of dairy farmers. I have been dealing with the feeling of this strange reunion in my paintings since it happened...trying to reconcile.
DB: Can you talk a little bit about the process you go through when working on a painting?
KB: I start by setting up my miniature farm set in a specific place...such as the domestic or perhaps less specific--more ambiguous.
I consciously light the scenes I create with the miniatures dramatically. I then photograph them. The photograph started out as an important part of the paintings however later it became more a part of the process. I edit all the photographs and choose the ones I feel I could exaggerate and interpret into new paintings. The color palette has become rich and acidic, somewhat surreal--perhaps to distance the paintings further from reality and the photograph.
DB: How has working with miniatures changed the way you think about your work and how did you come about using these miniatures?
KB: I started photographing and staging my miniature farm set I had as a child then painting the scenes.
The miniatures made me more aware of scale and provided a more intimate way for me to study light, composition, through a staged set up.
Conceptually-- The nostalgia that the miniature narrative reveals is a longing for its place of origin. Miniatures are often used to project alternative identities¬–identities that the child yearns for someday. In my work, I create and attach alternate idealized identities to the miniature people, animals, farm, and home. Animals have often acted as stand-ins for people within my paintings.
DB: What is the thing that you have found most beneficial about your time in grad school?
KB: Time spent in the studio...likely we will never get that amount of uninterrupted time to just work.... ever. I miss it already. The interaction and great conversation with other grad students...especially at drink time. Criticism...lots of it.
DB: What painting or series of work you completed while in grad school was the most significant breakthrough for you?
KB: Working with miniatures...
And the last six paintings in my thesis show. Placing Stewart's poetry in conjunction with the paintings made them have a clearer, more significant meaning for me. I started to think about the paintings differently when they were actually installed--I had the chance to slow down and actually look at my own work outside of our claustrophobic studios.
DB: What advice would you give a fresh having BFA artist in regards to going to grad school?
KB: Take some time off...you have to want it really bad. Sometimes if you have the momentum going it is beneficial to run with it. It is different for everyone. Just be ready to work really hard and fail a lot--it makes you stronger.
DB: What are your immediate and long-term goals now that you have graduated?
KB: I'm actually in Lawrence, Kansas right now with my fiancé (Jimmy Eddings) who is working on his MFA in Ceramics at the University of Kansas. We are getting married in July back in Wisconsin. I have a show in September lined up at the University and I am working hard to get a teaching position somewhere in Kansas.
Long-term...I wouldn't mind painting in a barn far far away.
DB: Where did you go for undergrad and how did you find out about MCA?
KB: I went to undergrad in a small town in Wisconsin at the University of WI Whitewater. We had great faculty that remain close to me that pushed us really hard.
I found out about MCA at an open portfolio day in Chicago. I had no Idea what I was getting into!
DB: What was your first impression of Memphis and what do you think of Memphis and its art scene now?
KB: Memphis was a tough place to live...somewhat depressing at times. I was not used to the south... the heat... large insects.... the tensions. I miss the river, Goat Days, my colleagues... There are some great people that really have made a lasting impression.
The art scene...was a lot more expansive then I would have thought...getting into it has proved a bit harder. I will miss the trolley nights.
DB: Who are some of your favorite artists both historically and contemporary?
KB: Historically, I was always enamored by the transcendentalist painters--church, Cole. I like the symbolist painters--Redon. Contemporary--- I always admired Eva Hesse and Lee Bontecou. The paintings of Salle, Richter, Kiefer, John Wilde.
DB: What is the greatest piece/show/installation that you have seen and what piece/show/installation do you want to see or wish you could have seen?
KB: The paintings of John Wilde was a small but exquisite show in Madison, Wisconsin. He is the reason I started working on a small scale and with narrative again.
The show I missed...Eva Hesse San Francisco
DB: What is your favorite movie, book, color, smell, and food?
KB: movie - "In the Mood for Love" Wong Kar-wai
Book - "On Longing" Stewart
Color - green
Smell - cut grass and jasmine tea
Food - curry