About

Karly Jean Kainz (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. She holds a BFA in Studio Art with an emphasis in Print & Narrative Forms from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a MFA in Studio Art from New Mexico State University. Primarily working with clay, Kainz explores ideas of collection and repetition, as key components of our everyday.  

Currently residing in Tennessee, Kainz is the Knoxville Gallery Coordinator for The Arrowmont Gallery. Outside of her own practice, she collaborates on various projects like Everything But The Work, an Instagram page for artists to share studio insights, and the Brown House Collective, an artist group organizing exhibitions in the Knoxville region.

Statement

Rooted in the everyday, Kainz’s work investigates how personal collections come and stay in one’s life. Her subject matter draws inspiration from the shapes, imagery, textures, and colors that fill her daily environment. Using materials commonly found in a home—such as clay, wood, house paint, and cement—Kainz transforms collected materials into something unexpected, ready to take on another meaning in one’s home. 

Stemming from her research of Midwestern Grottos, Kainz continues to be influenced by their chaotic surfaces and use of gathered, repurposed materials. Traditionally trained as a printmaker, her approach to crafting three-dimensional forms stems from print concepts of repetition, layering, carving and screen printing. The repetitive nature of her practice invites reflection, as the accumulation of materials converge to form new visual narratives.

Photo credit: Yashoda Latkar