A child prodigy in art, Kristen began winning awards for her drawings at the age of seven. An art major in high school, she went on to graduate from Nazareth College, Pittsford, New York in 1988, with a Bachelor’s of Science in Fine Art and a concentration in Illustration.
Along the way was a curriculum that included jewelry-making, stained glass, sculpture in clay, photography, weaving, art history, painting, drawing, figure drawing, commercial illustration and graphic design, as well as chosen studies in biology, animal behavior, genetics, and a brief foray into medical illustration. Well-versed in this multitude of media, scrimshaw has become a fulfilling and exciting extension of her illustration skills.
A nature lover from toddlerhood, Kristen draws inspiration from animal subjects and the natural world. From the very beginning she learned to draw wild animals with National Geographic books as constant desktop companions. She learned the names of trees and wildflowers as a small child walking the upstate New York woods with her grandfather, while her maternal grandfather captivated her with stories of his deer camp and of duck and pheasant hunts.
Kristen’s all-time favorite animal and subject, the horse, is drawn from life and picture, committed to memory by a long and loving study of anything equine since the age of three.
“I’ve been horse-crazy for as long as I can remember. My parents always said that it was just a phase. I have been studying the horse for at least twenty-five years… any book, picture, poster, or plastic model I could get my hands on, and then some! When I was a kid, getting up close to the real thing was a special treat. If you eat, sleep, breathe, draw, and dream horses, if you really observe them, you commit to memory their images. I’ve now owned horses and have cared for, ridden, driven, and trained them, and have developed some very special relationships. They never cease to astound me or bring absolute joy to my face and heart each and every time I see them. It is the one subject I never tire of talking about, the one subject I never tire of creating.”
Kristen and her husband Karl live in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in Texas.
Special Interests include…
Riding and driving horses, hunting, fishing, shooting trap, skeet and sporting clays