Skip to main content

Kyla Zoe Rafert








We were instantly attracted to the distinctively detailed work of Kyla Zoe Rafert. This talented painter and printmaker (the black and white image is a plate etching!) creates narratives fueled by nostalgia, personal growth, and beauty.
Kyla Rafert is based out of Ohio, south of Columbus. When she isn’t busy creating art, she is raising her two children, in addition to tending a variety of animals and a garden.  Rafert received her B.F.A. in printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design, and her M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she also studied printmaking on a full scholarship. She has attended several residencies, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, Women's Studio Workshop, ACRE, and New York Mills Arts Retreat.
She explains her work further:
I see my current work as the truth bent to perfection. Set within a meticulously designed world of vanity, beauty, and abundant pattern, recent works evoke a carefully crafted stage rather than the happenstance of real life. Echoing fairy tales and Dutch genre paintings of the 17th century, my paintings illustrate adolescent girls and young women in scenes that play on Romantic notions such as the peril of curiosity, the potency of beauty, and the inevitable fall of innocence. Despite their childlike references however, these works are meant to embody the prophetic perspective of an adult looking backward to an overly romanticized, fictive past. As an adult, one can look longingly at this world of innocence, and whether it existed or not, they have always fallen from it: they have traded their naiveté for the role of a diviner.
To see more, check out www.kyla-zoe.com and find her on Instagram @kyla.zoe.rafert

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sally West

Vibrant, dreamy color schemes, sumptuous textures, and a modern approach to landscapes, we loved Sally West’s work the first time we saw it! Naturally we had to reach out to have her on the blog J
Sally West studied at KVB College Of Visual Communication in North Sydney and received her bachelor of visual communication in 1995. Following graduation, West traveled throughout Asia and spent a year in Ireland, where she worked in graphic design, producing and selling artwork and doing portraits. After moving to Bondi, New South Wales in 1998 she began working at Wadi Gallery, participating in group exhibitions and selling artwork at the Bondi Markets. The same year, she had her first major solo exhibition (The Journey) at the Bondi Pavillion. West spent the next year traveling through India and Nepal, meeting other inspiring artists and another major solo exhibition. West returned to New South Wales in 2000. She has continued to show work worldwide including Australia and New York. She li…
Post a Comment
Read more

Lesley Bergen

Extremely excited to have Lesley Bergen on the blog! Her modern approach to pointillism and saturated hues create stunning portraits of nature.
Lesley Bergen is a fine artist most know for her colorfully  patterned dot paintings which include both abstracts as well as representations of forest creatures.  Lesley describes her work as contemporary-pop-folkart.  She draws her influence from these styles as well as naïve and primitive art. 
Lesley's other current artistic projects include curating a miniature art gallery 'A Very Tiny Art Gallery' found on Instagram at @averytinyartgallery which feature her own works, a place where she can share and showcase her art infused ideas and experiments in a miniature form.  Also a practitioner of the needle arts, Lesley has a follow-along-work-in-progress embroidery project called 'The Lollipogs of Lester Lake' which also can be found on Instagram at @thelollipogsoflesterlake. She has illustrated and authored 'Room To Colou…
Post a Comment
Read more

Sarah Ammons

Beautiful brushwork, color, patterns, portraits, graphic line quality, botany, we love every aspect of Sarah Ammons' work!  

Sarah was born and raised east of Toronto, Canada, on a beach on Lake Ontario. Sarah became interested in art at a young age, spending every available minute drawing, and developing her techniques. After high school, she spent a year in an interdisciplinary liberal arts program in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at the University of King's College, studying Western literature and philosophy. During this time, she kept an avid practice of her journaling and sketching, weaving together a visual language which combined her reflections on philosophy, life and existence. Following this introspective year, she earned a BFA at Queen's University in Kingston Ontario, graduating in 2012. She began to sell and exhibit her paintings in Toronto, learning about the business side of being an artist. Sarah completed her MFA in painting at the San Francisco Art Institute in 20…
Post a Comment
Read more