BIOGRAPHY

Kim Power was born in Westwood, California on February 15, 1965. From early childhood she was introduced to and experimented with the art of tie-dye and batik. During her years at James Madison University, beginning in 1986, she studied silk painting and weaving under tapestry artist Barbara Lewis as well as introductory courses in ceramics, drawing, painting and sculpture, obtaining a B.S. in Art Education in 1990. Her first works were shown at this time in solo and group exhibits in Virginia.

Upon graduation in 1990, Kim moved to Washington, D.C. where she taught art at the Congressional Schools of Virginia and instructed surface design at Spring Water Fiber Arts Workshop. Meanwhile, she continued to create paintings in fiber, participating in group shows in the Washington D.C. area at: the Spring Water Fiber Arts Workshop, the Torpedo Factory Arts Center, the Arlington Arts Center, and the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Concurrently, she completed individual commissions for unique scarves and clothing, including dyeing and painting dance costumes for the performance of "Three Invocations" presented by Ron Paul and Friends Premier Concert and for "Sunshine" a dance performed in the Joy of Motion InConcert '94 by the Dupont Alley Dance Company.

Beginning 1994, Kim began to spend time at her house in Savoie, France though her primary residence was Washington, D.C. It was at this time that she began working in her own technique of machine-quilted, hand-painted, embellished textile paintings and hand painted scarves. Thirty-five of her paintings from this period were presented in a solo show in France at La Salle Basse, galerie d'art, during the month of October 1997.

In the following years, 1998 to 2000, Kim had many diverse opportunities to exhibit. She was represented by Rivaga art gallery in Washington D.C., 1998 to 1999, where her scarves were exhibited in their Fall crafts show in 1988, to be followed by a the inclusion of her fiber paintings in an exhibit of gallery artists in the Summer of 1999. She began at this time to permanently exhibit her paintings at the Bird-in-Hand Gallery in Washington, D.C. until 2003.

In October 1999 she was chosen to exhibit one of her paintings in "Shapes" at the Capitol Hill Arts League. February 2000, a collection of her shawls and a painting created specifically for the exhibit were presented in the Glildenhorn Speismain Center for the Arts' Goldman Art Gallery's "Threads" show in Rockville, Maryland. Also in February of that year, Kim received a DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Small Projects Grant for designing and creating the scenery (six 10-foot hand-painted raw silk moveable panels) for "Old Cronies," a dance choreographed and performed by Deborah Riley Dance Projects. Her fiber paintings were on exhibit following the opening night in May of 2000 at Dance Place in Washington, D.C.

During the summer of 2000, Kim's paintings were included in a group show at Bird-in-Hand Gallery. In October of 2000, she participated in the second Washington D.C. Art-O-Matic, showing five of her paintings. At the end of the year, November to December, Kim had a solo exhibit at the Bird-in-Hand Gallery showing a series of miniature machine-quilted, hand-embroidered, hand-dyed paintings in raw silk which she contained in hand-painted wood boxes that were lined with commercially hand-made paper. The title of the show was "Gardens of Eden" and was the first of her series of "storyboxes."

Also during 2000, Kim sold her hand-dyed shawls at Julie: Artisan's Gallery on Madison Avenue in New York City, and The Renwick Museum, the Textile Museum, and the Jewish Community Center all located in Washington, D.C.

In 2001, she again had the opportunity to collaborate with Deborah Riley Dance Projects when she created the scenery for their dance called "Oasis," which was presented at the Kennedy Center's Millenium Stage in July 2001. The set was comprised of five shibori-dyed lengths of fabric, each 37 feet long by 2 feet wide, with colors representing the five elements of Buddhism (water, fire, air, spaciousness, and earth). In October of the same year, she exhibited new works at Dance Place. From December to April 2002 her series "Gardens of Eden," was shown at the Green Spring Gardens "Floral Fantasy in Fiber" show. Continuing her series of "storyboxes" she exhibited at Glenview Mansion in Rockville, Maryland (October 2002) a group of fiber paintings based on figure studies she made in 2002 and "transformed" into entities whom had their own stories to tell. The title of the show was "Women in Transformation" and each painting was framed in a hand-painted golden box. These paintings have since been reframed and now have luminous turquoise boxes with a lavender canvas backing.

In January 20003, Kim moved to The Hague in The Netherlands and began a new exploration in her artwork. With the intention of creating drawings as models for her textiles, she developed an interest in drawing in pencil, pastel, and watercolor pencil, focusing mainly on portraits and figure studies, using them as an stepping stone to illustrate her own imaginative stories. Meanwhile, her fiber work was shown in March of 2003 at the American Women's Club of The Hague and her shawls at Mouvements atelier galerie at the end of 2003, beginning 2004. Her first intricate graphite drawings were included in a group show at Haagse Kunstring in July 2004. This was followed by a review of her entire body of work, drawings and fiber paintings, shown at the Universiteit Nijmegen in September and October of 2004. A selection of these works can be seen at: http://www.kunst.sci.kun.nl/power/.

Following her show in Nijmegen, Kim exhibited her fiber work and drawings in pencil, pastel, and watercolor pencil at the American Women's Club of The Hague in November of 2004,. At the same time and lasting till the end of December 2004, she had some of her drawings and "storyboxes" included in an exhibit at Walls galerie in Amsterdam. She recently exhibited her latest figure drawings there as well. Both exhibits can be seen at: http://www.walls.nl/dbase/308.html.

In January 2005 and February 2006, Kim's work was shown at the Galerie Bianca in de Molen in Wassenaar. November 2006 her art quilts were shown at the Zorgvliet church in Statenkwartier, The Hague and another exhibit including textiles, drawings and oil painting at the American Book Center Treehut Gallery, The Hague took place in March 2007. Since her last exhibit, Kim has been concentrating on a series of oil paintings depicting the process and enjoyment of favorite recipes. Details regarding exhibits will be posted on this site.