About the Artist
From Alaska Nights to Desert Faces
Loose, moody portraits of women who aren't performing for you.
Kris Knutzen spent 40 years in Alaska as a single mom raising two boys, which meant she needed real income, not hobbies. So, she built one - a Fairbanks business showcasing vendors for home, holiday and recreational goods - and ran it successfully until she sold it to her two capable assistants in 2016. In 2017 Kris came to her senses and traded the dark days of Alaska for the Coachella Valley and her now-husband, sunshine included.
Art came first, though. Kris started making art objects in the early 2000s - exotic, award -winning cloth dolls, one of which landed in Patti Medaris Culea's book "Creative Cloth Doll Faces " in 2005.
The move to the desert pushed her into two dimensions. Her Tile Mosaics turned colorful organic shapes into framed compositions. More recently, she's been painting in Acrylic on canvas and wood panels. Her latest series, "Faces" works from photographs - not to capture a likeness, but to catch something truer underneath it. Pieces from that series are now showing at the Desert Art Center.
Contact: [email protected]
Recent Works
