Kim Roberts is a Colorado-based contemporary artist. She lives in a high alpine valley surrounded by 14,000 foot peaks and herds of yak and elk. These wondrous natural features play starring roles in her work.
Trained as a mental health professional and meditation instructor, she has taught wellness programs at luxury resorts and retreats around the world for over 25 years. When painting proved to be her source of wellness, she shifted her focus to making art. Kim divides her time between Crestone and Denver.
Statement
As a long-time meditation practitioner, I notice that what’s right before my eyes often gets obscured by the thinking mind. Making art helps me ground the practice of awareness in the present moment.
So I’m interested not only in the subjects I paint, but also the process itself. I try to capture the ineffable atmosphere in which things take place—the quality of mind that accommodates all things. I’m fascinated by the ever-changing moods of the natural world–the color of uranium mountains at sunset, purple snow shadows on a cactus field, or the sky’s electric intensity before a thunderstorm. I’m also interested in the moods, or states of mind evoked by being in nature, and enjoy the challenge of expressing these emotions in color and form. Having spent much of my adult life as an expat in South Asia, I’ve seen how art connects us to each other in a way that transcends culture. How language influences what we see–or don’t see. How emotional states are shared universally, and how they can be communicated by a simple gesture, image or tone. Each piece I create is an attempt to plant a seed of awareness, and to invite the viewer into a deeper experience of their own awareness—a sort of meditation in action. My hope is to convey how art is a bridge to this experience of spaciousness in the mind and that this is what connects us all. My current exploration is based in the landscape of the southern Colorado high-alpine valley where I live.