Emerging Artists | Kalie Graves - Southwest Art Magazine

The perfect touch

Kalie Graves, Stand Out, oil, 12 x 24.

This story was featured in the March/April 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art March/April 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

IT’S USUALLY THE ordinary domestic items around her house that Idaho artist Kalie Graves reaches for when she’s designing her still-life arrangements. A striped dish towel, a lemon, and a carton of eggs have all received the limelight in her work. But don’t be fooled by the simplicity of her tableaux. Although they might look like they “just happened,” says Graves, “I take a lot of time on my still lifes.”

: Kalie Graves, Eggs and Stripes, oil, 12 x 12.

: Kalie Graves, Milk and Cookies, oil, 20 x 16.

: Kalie Graves, Used, oil, 20 x 16.

From fine-tuning the delicate folds in a linen napkin to choosing the most pleasing colors, patterns, and lighting effects, every still-life scene is carefully thought out before the artist puts brush to canvas. “No one can watch me,” chuckles the oil painter, who prefers to hem and haw over her setups privately, while her husband and two sons, Henry and Russell, aren’t at home (although her boys did once join in the fun by setting up an “epic scene” with their plastic toy figurines for their mother to paint.) Graves, who had some previous experience working with watercolors and pastels, started painting in oils about five years ago, after receiving a tackle box full of old oil paints from her grandmother. She quickly felt at ease pushing the thick, tactile medium around on her canvas. “I love that loose, painterly style,” she enthuses. “I do appreciate super-fine realism, but I don’t want to be that tight in my paintings. I love a style that’s a mix of both.”

: Kalie Graves, Abundance, oil, 14 x 14.

: Kalie Graves, War or Training, oil, 18 x 24.

: Kalie Graves, Eggs and Gingham, oil, 16 x 24.

The artist studied interior design in college, ranking first in her class, and she went on to pursue a successful career in that field for several years. Now, many of her paintings reflect the creative choices she would make as an interior designer who aims for harmonizing aesthetics. Neutral color schemes are her go-to palette, for that reason, because they can complement a variety of different spaces and décors. Likewise, the commonplace items in Graves’ paintings, uncomplicated and relatable, have universal appeal. Take her painting entitled USED, which was juried into Oil Painters of America’s national exhibition last year. The work features a scattered pile of eggshells, cracked and emptied of their contents. In these everyday kitchen dregs, Graves finds poignancy. “They are still beautiful, even though they have served their purpose,” says the artist. “I want viewers to see the beauty and story of a subject, whether it’s an egg or a folded-up dishcloth.” —Kim Agricola

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www.kaliegravesart.com