Acclaimed Choctaw painter Karen Clarkson resides in Arizona, but shows right here in Santa Fe's Blue Rain Gallery through Thursday, March 27 as part of the gallery's Guadalupe Street Feature series. Clarkson dedicates her work to erasing negative stereotypes that tend to keep Indigenous Americans and women in general tied to the past—which fits quite nicely with March's Women's History Month. Her technical prowess is matched by an expressive technique that finds Clarkson exhibiting her skill through oil paintings, graphite drawings and mixed media. The work is both beautiful and stirring, a practice in self-discovery and developing communication methods through visual processes. In other words, Clarkson is quite skilled, so we caught up with her to speak about her work and the show. This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.
What was your first exposure to a painting that impressed you as art? When did you start painting?
My father was a Choctaw, and in the Navy, and we were stationed in France. My parents liked to go to Montmartre in Paris and hang out with the street artists there. Watching them paint in the open air, and listening to them talk was an education within itself. They had such style…they looked and even moved in a different way. Even as a child, I felt a kinship with them. I realized that these are a different type of people, and their very differentness in the way they dress and carry themselves is an art form. They displayed respect and interest in the work of other painters on the street even though they were competing to sell their art. It was plain that they were more interested in the essence of self-expression than money. These street artists welcomed me into their realm of creation.These interactions made a huge impression on me and I felt connected to them. This attraction to the world of painting was instilled in me at an early age.
Until my four children left home I didn’t have time to work on anything else except raising my children. I taught myself to draw and paint after the four children were out of the house. I found that there is joy in self expression. I am technically a realist, I got that attention to detail from my parents.
How did you develop your female-centric style?
I am focused on revealing my Native American history and mythology. Can a raven communicate tenderness and love? Can a symbolic representation of my heritage show the same? Important to me is communicating our shared humanness. Does it make you smile?
When I began to draw the only models I had were late 1800s Edward Curtis photographic prints that were primarily of men’s faces, so I drew men for a while. Using these classic images as models informed me in the dynamics of light and shadow. I soon transitioned to nature photographs to develop my artistic skills. As I considered the philosophy of my own original images I realized that women need a voice.
The images of women in modern culture don’t really display their spirit as much other than objects. Now that I only paint women that I know, I feel the work to be relatable to any woman. If the work is viable in message as well as execution it speaks to all women, but a main focus is to eliminate stereotypes. I am not in favor of pictures of naked Indigenous women wearing nothing but a gun belt and clutching a revolver. My subjects display self-determination and confidence as well as physical beauty. I feel angry when women are displayed as merely sexual objects.
What do you want people to feel when they experience your work?
I attempt to entreat people to see women in their true traditional and cultural element. There is a real lack of aesthetic understanding in the stereotypical imagery of women in this culture. I want women to be seen in their traditional and cultural element instead of being sexualized or idealized. I portray Native American women as more than long braids and dark hair—that’s not real—I paint who they really are. They are beauty without subservience.I want to display power and honesty in women’s faces, rather than rage and power in men’s faces. I want women from all cultures to relate to my work.
