Iris Kirkwood

Buffalo-born artist Iris M. Kirkwood creates artwork in which the primary theme is emotion. She believes people interpret the world through their feelings, and she explores these varied interpretations by combining elements of the short story - setting, character, point of view, with color and line – to create work that tells relatable visual narratives, while simultaneously creating new dreams and memories. Within the scope of her work, she uses a variety of media, but she primarily works with pencil on buff-colored card stock or beige manila file folders. With the intention of creating works that resemble paintings, Kirkwood also incorporates colored pencils, pastels, watercolor markers, paint markers, and sometimes correction fluid into her work. She also uses computer programs to 'paint' images that tell different types of narratives, often containing symbolism and surreal elements.Where the pencil drawings she creates use color sparingly with pastel, her digital paintings rely on color to enhance the works’ emotional content. Her desire is to have the viewer see an interesting visual that causes them pause.

“I create visual narratives that speak to the little moments in life. Those times of loss, pathos, joy, humor, fear that in total illuminates the life of living beings. By acting as though African Americans had never been slaves, I am free to make new dreams and memories without the constraint of history.” [1]

The exhibition of Kirkwood’s work in galleries and museums has increased since becoming a member of the Western NY Urban Arts Collective, formed in Buffalo by artists of color, for artists of color. Her work was exhibited in a 2017 show of Western NY Urban Arts Collective artists, Images (by US for US), at the Burchfield Penney Art Center.

For more information on Iris Kirkwood and her work, visit her website: https://imkirkwood.webs.com/.