ARTIST SPOTLIGHT // KIKI GAFFNEY ON 'THE SHIFT'

Kiki Gaffney gets loose by keeping nature tight

By Heather Shayne Blakeslee

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EXCERPT //

…“I would just get lost in these drawings,” says Gaffney, “And it really gave me a peace—like a peace of mind—that I don’t have in my outside life.”

Nature continues to be her muse. “Nature is really what gives me all of my ideas and my inspiration,” she says, including the images that were on display at the Pentimenti show this past winter. “All of our constructed patterns that we use, whether it’s maps or wallpaper ... all of that figuration comes from the natural world in some way. And so for me, that sort of layering of natural imagery, constructed imagery, patterning, layering—that’s where it all comes from.” When the pandemic hit, and Gaffney was in her studio full time, she found herself at a loss for new ideas and felt as though she was forcing herself to do something that wasn’t going to come if she continued to grasp at it. So she took off into the Wissahickon woods.

“I would just spend hours in there, go for my runs and my walks, and that’s when I started really noticing nature in a different way ... really noticing, noticing the transformational shifts,” Gaffney says. “I watched winter turn into spring, and the growth, and how barren fills with life and light. All of that shifted my thinking, and, in essence, shifted the way I looked at my work.”

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