Artists often supplement their passion with day jobs but rarely does their art stay home or in the studio. Artist Kelly Rundell, for instance, might take hers into the courtroom.
"My day job is that I'm an attorney at Hite, Fanning and Honeyman," Rundell said. "I've practiced law for 40 years now. I find art to be a really great way to relieve stress, and so if I'm having a bad day, there's going to be a lot of art done later.
"If I'm bored when I'm taking a deposition or in a meeting, I will tend to doodle."
Rundell said she's had a longtime fascination with being creative, "I've done art my entire life. I was the one who made the posters in the pep club."
Rundell later took life drawing classes at the old Center for the Arts until she turned her interest to pottery. She did pottery for 20 years until an injury forced her to pivot.
"I hurt my shoulder, and after rotator cuff surgery, I couldn't really throw pottery ... like I did before. But I have to do art because that's what I have to do. It's part of me."
Rundell said that obsession led her to painting, "I just took some painting classes, and I decided I had more fun and was probably better at painting than I was at pottery," Rundell said.
More specifically, she makes collage art, "I make my own papers, and I don't take pictures out of magazines or buy paper or anything."
Rundell takes paper of her own, applies, smears, stencils and streaks paint. She then uses those exercises as the source for her own collages.
"By doing that, I can make sure the colors are the colors I want, the designs that I want, because I'm kind of a control freak," he said. "I have everything the way it's supposed to be."
Rundell's approach to adhesive is pigmented, "At some point, you know, when you're doing collages, you don't want to use Mod Podge all the time because it's kind of heavy and clunky."
So, through much experimentation, Rundell now uses paint to adhere her works together and on a canvas. Her application is a bit like finger painting.
"I usually use my fingers," she said. "I don't use brushes very often. Go ahead and add some more color to it, and also glue my paper down by using paint."
After laying down paper using the paint color she wants, Rundell will add a little bit of action.
"I'll put some ink on here in the middle of the flower, and so then I'll use a straw, and I blow the ink all over the place. It's supposed to be like the little stems in the middle of the flowers."
Rundell has an upcoming show at Arthouse 310
"I call it a garden party, and I focus on florals and things in nature," Rundell said.
Her upcoming exhibit is with Michael Davenport, "The thing that we both have noticed is we both use a lot of strong colors. There's not going to be anything soft or gentle or muted at this show."
Rundell appreciates the lower-pressure experience of exhibiting with four or more artists. The stakes are a bit higher in a duo-show.
"This show, because there's only two of us, it feels like a lot more pressure that you want to fill it with really good stuff."
