Born in New York in 1950 …. I did not begin seriously studying art till 1976, when I entered Fashion Institute of Technology in a fine arts degree program that gave me a solid grounding in classical study… anatomy, perspective, design, drawing and the techniques of oil painting.
Coming to Vermont in 1991, my art began to finally be realized independently, and a true path started to become clear. The atmosphere here has been very fertile for my work, living in Johnson Vermont, an art colony centered around a year- round residency program called Vermont Studio Center. This community has been a spiritual journey of art= necessity and providence, friendship and synchronicity....small miracle after miracle. I began to realize how deeply beauty was important to me and to pursue it without reserve or hesitation. What I’m looking for is cached in the word “create”. For me, the deep need to paint is intimating something that would greatly fulfill my journey. I question why and what, and how. Psychology, aesthetics, and the phenomena of painting itself… including physics, the study of what makes the world go round, and metaphysics are all included in that point of light I am going toward. The material I read is scriptural and theological. There is also parapsychology and physics; the meaning of the Liturgy and the experience of it as my axis. Spirituality not divorced from any aspect of life, and integrating those aspects is understood through space exploration and the thinking of artists who have led up to the steps I take personally in actually painting. After FIT I attended the Art Student’s League, the National Academy of Fine art & Design, Brooklyn Museum School, Westchester Art Workshop, Westchester Community College, apprenticed both with Peggy Fuller of Golden Arches Studio in Mount Kisco, NY and Jeanne Carbonnetti of Crow Hill Gallery in Chester Vermont. I’m published in Jeanne’s book “The Yoga of Drawing”. Five of my drawings were included and commented on. I was also a part of a documentary called “They Have Souls Too” by Helen Whitney of the Whitney Museum, NY. I’ve shown at Studio Place Arts, Helen Day in Stow, receiving awards for three consecutive years, and Artful Things in Lebanon, NH. I’m presently showing at Artists in Residence in Enosburg Falls, VT. |
©2016 Alexis Kyriak, All Rights Reserved.