Curtis Alan Kiwak
Artist Statement

I like to use my art to tell stories; thinking of the page that I work on as a mini-theater. When I sit down to do a drawing, I have no idea how it will turn out. I may look at something around the room and briefly sketch it or I may use a portion of something that I have drawn before. From a group of random forms and shapes I create a story. The story develops as I’m drawing. I may start with a pillow on a bed with a box next to it and end up with a dog rescuing a little boy from drowning.

I like the detail that I can get in my work by using drawing media and mixing it with paint. I use charcoal, pencils, pastels, and water-based crayons with acrylic paints. I like working small and carry around a sketchbook that I can pull out to work on wherever I am.

A lot of my drawings include images of things that reflect my childhood fears. Some symbols and subjects get repeated often: animals, water, monsters, prisoner of war camp images, and innocents in jeopardy. I am intrigued by how my imagination gets reflected on the page and how the work then takes on a life of its own.

I grew up in Chicago. In my teens, I took a few classes at the Art Institute. The school opened me up to a number of artists that were not conventional artists. I discovered the Chicago Imagists. The Chicago Imagists found artistic inspiration everywhere in their worlds: in other types of artwork, comics, toys, advertisements, their families, theater, music, books, and more. I fell in love with the work of Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Roger Brown and Ed Paschke. I had an opportunity when I was a teen to visit a few of the Imagist’s art studios during a Chicago open studio tour. Today my artistic inspiration owes a lot to what I discovered in them.

I had hoped to be a scientific illustrator when I started college in Tucson in the late 70s. But I changed my direction after having classes with Jim Waid, Wayne Enstice, Chuck Hitner and Bruce McGrew. I graduated from the University of Arizona with my BFA in 1983. I joined Central Arts Collective that year and remained an active member until 1990. But I took a 15 year hiatus from the art community and in 2007 returned to studio work.

I currently work with ball point pens, pastels mixed with different paint mediums, pencils, charcoal and paint on paper. They range from 32 x 40inches to 5 X 7 inches. I have been drawing and painting on common blue lined lecturer’s paper (32 x 40 inches ).

The final inspiration of my artwork also owes a great deal to the fact that I have had a lifelong career as a preschool teacher. 2016 marks the beginning of my 33rd year as an Early Childhood teacher, having worked both in the private and public sector. I had been co-director as well as teacher for my own school for several years. I am currently a school district, stated certified pre-K teacher on the far southwest side of Tucson.

As a preschool teacher I allow children to learn through experience. I want them to explore and answer questions and solve problems. They need to be active learners. My classroom setting encourages them to make choices about materials and activities. I believe that children at this age learn best by pursuing their own interests and goals and not through typical school-like art activities. Teaching through play and hands on experiences is the best practice at this age. I continue to help my young students know that art is not just limited to a finished product but a process. Finally as an artist I have been influenced by young children’s art. How they see the world and how they use their representational skills have always drifted into my artwork.