Check Out Lindsey Kiser’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsey Kiser.

Hi Lindsey, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today. 
Drawing upon my experiences growing up on a Christmas tree farm and camping across the United States, I’m a contemporary visual artist of the seemingly insignificant organisms and natural found objects. I paint and work in scratchboard. 

I hit the lottery the day I was born. I was blessed with the best parents, Chuck and Betty Kiser of Walton, Kentucky. My mom and dad did not overschedule me. They supplemented my public school education with books, nature shows, and road trips to all of the major national parks. Rather than providing me with art lessons, they gave me an art studio at the age of ten and ample free time to be creative and to explore the Great Outdoors. 

By the time I was fourteen, I knew all the names of all of the flowers and trees in my native woods. At the age of sixteen, my parents invested in publishing prints of my painting “Kentucky in Bloom,” which were sold at gift shops in state parks across the commonwealth. Later that year, I won Kentucky’s first Jr. Duck Stamp art contest, which resulted in my artwork exhibiting in a traveling national art exhibition. 

Before I graduated with honors in Art with a double minor in Biology and Chemistry from Georgetown College, I had the incredible opportunity to study British art history and drawing as a full member of Oxford University in Oxford, England through the Ruskin School of Fine Art. 

After graduation, I painted murals in private residences and participated in local art festivals in Hyde Park, Montgomery, and Covington while I earned a law degree at night from Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University. 

In 2016, the Governor of Kentucky appointed me to serve on the board of the Kentucky Arts Council, which is the agency that encourages economic development through the arts. It was the Governor’s appointment that awakened my inner artist from the legal career I had chosen to provide financial stability to my adult life. 

After nearly fifteen years of practicing patent law for Fortune 1000 companies and slowing building my art career as a side hustle, I launched an online art gallery of my work in the fall of 2022. By this time, I had already illustrated and published two children’s books for first-time authors and exhibited in five solo art shows across Kentucky. 

So far this year, I have had artwork included in the following juried art exhibitions: the Governor’s Kentucky Derby Exhibition in the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort, Kentucky in May; two juried group art shows of the Rhode Island Watercolor Society in July; and Art Comes Alive 2023, which was a juried, international art show hosted by ADC Fine Art in Cincinnati, Ohio in August. Currently, my artwork may be seen at ADC Fine Art in their gallery in Ft. Thomas, Kentucky, by appointment in my home studio and online on my website, https://lindseykiser.com. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The pathway to a sustainable art business has not been linear or easy, but it probably isn’t for any artist. Although becoming a full-time professional artist has been the goal for as long as I can remember, it wasn’t until after I earned a law degree, passed two bar exams, and worked for over a decade as a patent attorney that I gave myself permission to be a professional artist despite not yet being in the position to dedicate myself to art full-time. 

Even though my life was jam-packed with responsibilities, including a demanding professional career and homeschooling my children with the aid of a tutor, I woke up one morning in 2017 and put in place a clear plan of action to have my first solo art show. For sixteen weeks, I got up at 5:30 a.m. and painted before the children would wake up. My first art show was designed to raise awareness of child abuse and domestic abuse at The Nest — Center for Women, Children & Families of Lexington, Kentucky. I followed opportunities as they were presented to me and made the rest of them happen. I continued to develop the portfolio of artwork and had solo art shows at the Janice Mason Art Museum in western Kentucky, at the Southern Performing Arts Center in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and at Thomas More University in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. 

But it wasn’t until September 2022, near the completion of my second illustrated and published children’s book, The Royal Red Bird by Composer Angela Rice, that I took the plunge and dedicated myself full-time to the making and selling of artwork. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I make, exhibit, and sell artwork designed to stimulate our God-given sense of wonder and explores our human connection with the land. I work in two formats. 

First, I make large-scale acrylic paintings from my own photographs of careful arrangements of natural found objects, such as birds’ nests and acorns, that I have placed in highly reflective, transparent containers, such as wine glasses and bell jars. The large scale of these paintings of subject matter that is minuscule in real life is surprising to the eye and an intentional choice to elevate the importance of the objects. The placement of the items under glass is also to show reverence to the natural found object and to contrast the organic shapes and patterns of the natural world with the crisp geometric reflections on the man-made glass. 

Second, I make tightly controlled, highly realistic, small-scale, black-and-white scratchboard artwork using a combination of sharpened knitting needles and tattoo needles that cut into the black ink surface to expose the white clay beneath. This body of work usually features little-known, incredible organisms. I am particularly interested in showcasing the little-known lifeforms that live on our overlooked forest floor and that have rich patterns, interesting contours, and intriguing textures. My scratchboards are intentionally small to draw the viewer close in and encourage close examination of the details. 

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
In addition to making artwork for collections and art exhibitions, I enjoy collaborating with clients in the creation of portraits of family members and pets, home portraits, and boats. 

I enjoy helping first-time children’s book authors move from initial concept to a completed, published book on Amazon by designing their covers, layouts, and watercolor illustrations that complement their unique stories. 

Lastly, I am excited to be offering “Creativity Sparkler” workshops for corporate retreats and conferences. Having worked as an intellectual property lawyer for Fortune 1000 Companies and with my extensive experiences in the arts, I have witnessed and experienced the various creative processes followed by engineers and inventors, business, government, and community leaders, and artists of all genres. To me, creativity is not just a calling, but a way of life. We all have capacity to experience it, but many of us need a little prompting. My retreats and workshops encourage your inner muse to reveal herself, and my systems and strategies will never leave you staring at a blank page or blank canvas again. 

Members of my Collector’s Circle, which is free to join on my website, receive first dibs to collect my original art. If you’re still reading, I’d love to have you join! 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lindseykiser.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindseykiser/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LindseyKiserArt/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseykiserward/