Curtis Alan Kiwak

When I sit down to do a drawing, I have no idea how it will turn out. I may look at something around the room and briefly sketch it or I may use a portion of something that I have drawn before. From a group of random forms and shapes I create a story. The story develops as I’m drawing. I like the detail that I can get in my work by using drawing media and mixing it with paint. I use charcoal, pencils, pastels, and water-based crayons with acrylic paints. A lot of my drawings include images of things that reflect my childhood fears. Some symbols get repeated often: animals, water, monsters’ and innocents’ figure in jeopardy. I am intrigued by how my imagination gets reflected on the page and how the work then takes on a life of its own. I graduated from the University of Arizona with my BFA in 1983. I joined Central Arts Collective that year and remained an active member until 1990. I took a 15-year hiatus from the art community and in 2007 returned to studio work. I now have been at the Hive Studio since 2014. I currently work with ball point and gel pens, pastels mixed with different paint mediums, pencils, charcoal, and paint on paper. They range from 32x40inches to 6×9 in.

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