Amidst the Wild Chaos and Serene Peace of Kristin Reed’s Studio
Kristin Reed has a BFA from MassArt in Boston and an MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. In the 1980s she made political street art with stencils, posters and billboards and directed a project in the MTA’s Creative Stations program to create a gallery space for local artists within the Bleeker Street Subway station. Reed painted several large public murals on The Lower East Side, The Tilles Performance Center on Long Island, in downtown Erie, PA, and Nicaragua. Her paintings traveled for three years to major US museums with The Smithsonian Institute’s Traveling Exhibition program (SITES) in an exhibition entitled “The Realm of the Coin.” A street billboard about gentrification on the Lower East Side was shown at The DIA Foundation in 1986 for a project by Martha Rosler, and was more recently shown in The Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, Mitchell-Inness and Nash Gallery in NYC and at The Glasgow Women’s Library during the 26th UN Climate Change Conference in 2021. Reed currently has a studio residency with Chashama in the Brooklyn Army Terminal. She is a Reiki Master/Teacher, practicing and teaching energy healing. She worked with a group that exchanges knowledge with indigenous Maya and Amazonian populations, training them to run their own acupuncture and Reiki clinics. Her work as a healer has dramatically affected her painting.
Kristin’s work explores space, time, and consciousness while remaining firmly rooted in a compassion for the earth. As she seeks inner knowledge, she uncovers a striking resemblance between the expansive reaches of distant galaxies and the most minute particles and waves of our natural world. She notes that both realms adhere to the same simple architecture and the sacred geometries of circles.
Her inspiration comes from simplified theories of quantum physics, the captivating imagery transmitted by deep space telescopes, and the healing knowledge of ancient shamanic traditions and their symbolic language of nature. She observes that a geometry is revealed that describes our planet and its place in the cosmos.
These sources appear in her work through the use of expressionistic light, luminous color, violently splattered and softly sprayed paint, liquid drips, dots, and sometimes collaged elements from our daily reality. She draws with a compass, protractor, and straight edge and then mindfully paints precise lines with a brush. Her process is both expressionistic and meditative, and in it, she sees an inner reality within a vast enveloping cosmic reality, where the wild and chaotic balance with serenity and peace.
In this week’s studio visit, we get a glimpse into Kristin Reed’s creative sanctuary, where the earthy scents of beach, dust, and rust blend with her vibrant, abstract artwork. Kristin shares her journey from political street art to focusing on healing through her meditative pieces. She talks about her daily routines, the inspiration behind her work, and her ongoing projects.
1. Kristin, can you describe your typical day in the studio and your creative process?
I arrive in the morning, bringing my lunch with me. It is a journey to get there and there are very few places to buy good food nearby so I prepare food and drinks to bring with me. I might read email before I begin to work and sometimes research images. I often sit in meditation for a little while before I begin to work. The colors I use in my palette often come directly from meditative space. I also receive other guidance about my life and art in meditation in my studio.
2. What is the primary inspiration behind your current body of work?
Since becoming a meditator and energy practitioner starting in 2005 my work changed from realistic depictions of events and situations for socio/political change to abstract work with a focus on healing and wellbeing of people and the planet. It has always been a puzzle to me how to combine my art successfully with my healing practice. The body of work I have focused on since 2023 has come closer to achieving that goal. In it my shamanic ceremonial healing training with indigenous people in Guatemala and the Amazon in Peru and my Reiki healing practices are becoming one. I have been making a series of scrolls that can be hung in ceremony for group or individual healing. Each has a specific intent. For instance, I have quite a few clients who want transformation in their lives. I made a scroll called “Totality” to be hung in a healing ceremony for growth and transformation. I was doing a series of Black Holes and had begun a new scroll. But as I worked I noticed that it looked more like an eclipse than a black hole. And then I found out that we were about to experience a total solar eclipse! Consciously I did not realize that an eclipse was coming, but I was unconsciously guided to the most transformational aspect in the sky for transformation. This series is ongoing and expanding. I have started to incorporate healing tools such as crystals, shells, feathers and bone which are strung and hung from the scroll. This has led to a search for these items and a collection of natural shells from the beach, feathers, rusted metal, bone, etc. which have filled a table in my studio. I feel that the ceremonial scrolls in this series have awakened something in my work that has long been coming and is connecting my painting and art work to my healing work.
3. What is your favorite memory or incident from your studio?
My favorite memory from my studio was a certain day last year that I sat in front of a blank canvas and meditated for at least an hour. When I returned from the meditation I began fringing the edge of the canvas with a nail. The next day I brought a seam ripper to replace the nail. I didn’t really know why, but that canvas was to become the first in the series of ceremonial pieces that I have been working on ever since. It was as if the action was guided by a force greater than myself and was aware of something I was not.
4. Do you have any studio assistants, or do any visitors like pets or kids often accompany you?
I have a Chashama studio in their “Space to Create” program at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. The facility is run by the NYCEDC (NYC Economic Development Corporation) and has a lot of security and is in a remote area of the Brooklyn waterfront. It is not easy, but possible to bring guests there and pets are not allowed. So I work there alone and have become accustomed to having my own sacred space, although there is a community of artists at the facility so I feel totally connected there when I want to be.
5. How would you describe a dream studio for yourself?
The studio I now have was visualized as a dream. I had no idea how I would find an affordable place to work in NYC. In my dream I saw tall windows and could see water out the windows and hear sea gulls. Somehow that dream came to pass as I was able to get a subsidized studio through Chashama, to whom I will always be grateful. Of course now I have another dream where my studio is bigger and I can hear waves crashing outside instead of the NY Harbor.
6. What does your studio smell of right now?
Right now my studio smells of beach, dust and rust due to the materials I’m collecting and working with.
7. If you could set up your studio anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I fantasize about a studio on a beach in Spain. I’m not sure how this will come to pass either but I’m quite sure it will one day.
8. Can you discuss any ongoing projects or future plans you have for your work?
I plan to keep working to coalesce my healing practice with my art in whichever way I can.
9. How do you organize your space?
In my space I am fortunate to have a storage area behind a wall where I keep earlier work, frames, supplies and tools. I need to have a semblance of order to create so I try to keep my working area neat. In the main area I have three moveable tables that I can shift around should I need floor space. On my walls is recent and current work. Because I can be messy when I splatter and drip paint I have to cover anything that I could damage while working. But I like to keep an entire series around while working on the next piece. I had a Feng Sui consultation at my home and studio with the fabulous Marina Press Granger from The Artist Advisory after which I rearranged things to orient myself better while working and implemented some salt cures to help the quality of energy in my studio.
10. What is your favorite memory or incident from your studio?
I have a corner in my studio where I have a comfortable chair to meditate and rest, observe my work and contemplate it. I hatch many ideas in this roost and consider this spot sacred.
Kristin’s studio felt serene, infused with the earthy scents of beach sand, dust, and rustic metal, creating a tranquil space for creativity and healing. It sure is a dream studio. To explore other artists’ virtual studio spaces, visit our website. To get featured on our website, don’t forget to apply for this month’s call for art.
