Blog Posts

Life in a Pandemic: Anxious Times

3/26/2020

This is a time for hearts,
for big hearts, growing hearts,
open hearts.

Hearts too big to fit into this picture.

Let’s take good care of everyone,
including ourselves.

Life during a pandemic, even in countries like Canada which is still in the early stages, is full of anxiety. We're thrown off balance so we have trouble finding our footing. It's like the ground keeps moving.

It's not just that we are having to learn new practices to stay healthy, it's also the fact that the situation is constantly changing, close at hand, and around the world.

Some people have reached out to me, each experiencing some degree of distress. Some are experiencing a lot of fear – of the virus, for the future – and the 24/7 news cycle has become a vortex that infects us with fear.

There are others for whom the loss of normalcy, the rhythms and routines of their ordinary life, is the biggest issue. Losing so much so suddenly, they find themselves wading through grief for their life pre-pandemic. The suddenness can hit us hard.

I have been fortunate in finding meaning and purpose in the new things I have taken on, directly in response to the crisis, to help people get through the isolation and disquiet, and doing that has given me a little comfort.

Before I tell you about that though, I want to share with you some thoughts I wrote to someone who needed help and emotional support through her distress at feeling unable to focus, unable to work, unable to settle. I feel it too. So many of us do, even if not all the time. So here is what I would like to say to you:

Nothing is normal right now. Nothing. So be gentle on yourself for not being able to work, and for feeling scattered. That is a natural response to feeling the anxiety of our crisis situation and even trauma and grief at the loss of normality.

We humans adapt to amazing things but to stay healthy in the full sense it is important to do gentle things that nourish, calm and ground you. That will ease the transition to the new normal, and you will feel better for it.

Activities that get you focused on your body are especially beneficial: movement of any kind and focusing on your senses instead of your thoughts whenever you can, or for part of each day.

Do something with your hands, go outside for a walk if you are healthy (and keep your distance from others). Above all, have patience with yourself and those around you... even for the times that you – or they – lose patience :-)

. . . . .

On March 20, I started holding Virtual Studio Parties online, via YouTube livestream so that anyone with high-speed internet, no matter how unconfident with their computer, could take part.

It’s a no-cost creative gathering for anyone who’s missing the experience of community, is feeling isolated or anxious, or wants to have some gentle fun in the real-time, virtual, company of others.

People have said it's really helped them and it's something they look forward to now.

If this sounds like it might help you, or just be fun, visit my Virtual Studio Parties page.

Do you have a suggestion for self-care during stressful times? Please share in the comments.

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New Show: 'Heartspace Hotel' at the Gladstone Hotel Jan 25– Mar 5, 2020

1/26/2020

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'Heartspace Hotel' is my surprise solo show for 2020 (I haven't told anyone about it until the last week couple of weeks, because I didn't know about it myself, lol!).

Occupying the third floor of The Gladstone Hotel in downtown Toronto, an amazing boutique art hotel renowned for its high profile art & design events and exhibitions, this multimedia show features a new combination of my heart-based work seen at my 'Heartspace' and 'A Full Heart' solo exhibitions in 2019, some of which have only ever been shown once, and even a couple of pieces I've never shown before.

Artworks include my longest digital print ever at over eight feet long, shown only once before in March 2019 at Cedar Ridge Creative Centre's Studio Gallery.

Also: many more prints, three of my large scrolls with giant image transfers, fibre-based work, paintings, abstract photography, and two more digital prints I've only exhibited once before.

The opening reception coincides with the one for the second floor exhibition so it's sure to be a happening evening – hope you can make it!

Opening reception:
Friday Jan 31, 7-10pm
Artist talk: 7:30pm

Kim-Lee Kho: Heartspace Hotel
at The Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen Street West
Toronto ON M6J 1J6

Front Desk: 416.531.4635 x 0
Dinner Reservations: 416.531.4635 x 7130

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2020: Taking Our First Steps into the New Decade

1/10/2020

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I love a clean slate.

A fresh sheet of paper, a newly-cleaned whiteboard, a pristine layer of snow.

There’s such beauty to the purity. The blankness quiets the noise of our surroundings, and of our own minds. Into those unsullied white spaces I find my mind naturally expands, while new ideas and possibilities start to grow and take shape.

So it is with a new year... and I am only just wrapping my mind around the possibilities of a new decade!

Do you do anything to mark the start of a new year? Do you brainstorm or reflect, set intentions or make plans?

I am working on a multi-part blog post “Looking Back to Look Ahead” in which I will share with you some of my reflections and insights into the year that’s passed and how those will affect how I see the coming year, and how I'll move forward.

Please take a moment to share your favourite ways of reflecting or refining your vision or just how you treat the annual changeover, I'd love to hear from you!

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Happy Holidays!

12/23/2019

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Wishing you and your family
a very happy holiday!

And as we close out this decade,
along with my fond hopes for a better decade ahead for the world, I wish you and yours all the best for the new year.

Thanks so much for being part of my community this year. Buoyed by that support, including my Heartspace sponsors, I was able to take on more, make more, and make more ambitious work – including trying many new media, processes and formats – in the past 18 months than in any previous.

That work enabled me to create and share experiences like my 2018 In Situ Festival room installation; my solo show 'A Full Heart' at the Cedar Ridge Studio gallery, my biggest ever, spanning three rooms in a historic house; Wonderfest in Port Credit a performing arts event where my large paintings set and dressed the stage for singers, musicians and spoken word poetry.

The culminating event was Heartspace at The Red Head Gallery, my debut solo show there, which included some of my previously shown heart-based work, alongside 47 new artworks in various sizes, mediums and formats.

It is only one month since Heartspace closed. The response, enthusiasm and attendance were amazing, thanks to my community!

I hope you were among those able to attend. If you were, thank you! If you checked it out online, thank you!

This year's holiday card was designed by my partner in life and creativity, Kal Honey, whose most recent show, Signs of Subversion, featured artworks based on (and subverting) the bylaw and road signs of our everyday life.

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Final Week to See Heartspace & Thank You to My Sponsors

11/17/2019

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Heartspace, my debut solo exhibition at The Red Head Gallery, is in its final week this Weds–Sat noon–5pm. I will be there for the final Saturday (Nov 23) all afternoon, or as close to it as I can manage!

After that the work comes down except for some of the small works which will be part of the group show that follows right after mine, #foxypopup.

Heartfelt thanks to my amazing sponsors!

I have thanked my sponsors in print at the show itself, but it's about time I thanked them here on my website.

They took some pressure off, lightening the load on my mind as I headed into, and worked away in, my studio, and they also made some things possible, thereby helping to make this show as interesting and diverse as my ideas called for.

Here are my generous sponsors:

Miriam Snell
Josef (Joe) Rich
Abigail Johnson
Joanna Czub
The Conspiracy to Promote Artists
Ruth Austin
Nancy Moniz
Lindsay Isaac
Anne Cook

I also owe a very special thanks to Kal Honey, who helps me in every way imaginable. Thanks also to Tim Marshall who along with Kal installed the show so I feel happy every time I look at it!

Installation views of Kim-Lee Kho: Heartspace at The Red Head Gallery through Nov 23, 2019.

My Heartspace solo exhibition is in its final week, continuing through Saturday, November 23 at The Red Head Gallery.

I'll be there in person on the final day, come and say hi! Open noon–5pm.

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A Packed House for My Heartspace Artist Talk & Opening Reception

11/3/2019

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Kim-Lee Kho giving her 'Heartspace' artist talk to a packed house at The Red Head Gallery in Toronto. All photos by Kal Honey, © Kim-Lee Kho

What a day! I'm feeling so full of gratitude for the many people who came out for the artist talk and opening reception for my 'Heartspace' solo exhibition at The Red Head Gallery in Toronto.

It was so packed that on more than one occasion I had to act like a bus driver and urge everyone to move further inside to make room for the new arrivals!

Wonderful to connect and re-connect with many familiar faces, colleagues, friends, students, sponsors, and even family!

I gave the group a guided tour through the artworks – so many of which merit a little background or additional explanation to enrich the experience rather than replace the personal encounter – covering conceptual, material and

technical aspects as well as recounting an occasional anecdote. There were also some excellent questions from visitors rounding out the experience.

While I rest and recover I will leave you with some photographs from the afternoon, and later on I will post photos of the installation without the crowds.

If you were unable to attend the opening reception, I will be back at the gallery on Saturday, November 9, from noon to 5pm. I'd love to share the show with you then, but of course visit whenever you can! And please don't forget to sign the guest book :-)

Heartspace runs through November 23, 2019.

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Solo Exhibition: Heartspace Oct 30–Nov 23 at Red Head Gallery

10/10/2019

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You are invited to my first solo show at The Red Head Gallery, where I became a member in 2018.

For more information about the content of the show, click here to see the exhibition page.

This show would be less than I’d hoped if not for the generous support of its/my sponsors.
Many thanks to all of the individuals, and one organization, who chose to support this project!

If you are curious about sponsoring new work, in any amount starting at just $10, please visit this page (click here) to find out more.

My Artist Statement for 'Heartspace'

Heartspaces are not tidy. They are bloody and muscular and visceral. They throb with the rhythm of our life. As their chambers squeeze, then fill, they experience high and low tides in the space of a single beat.

Being human is not tidy. We are born from blood and viscera and the scream that gives us breath, while our deaths set in motion a rapid decay.
From beginning to end there is so much mess, in our lives, our psyches, our hearts, and our flawed selves. And yet there is so much opportunity for beauty, love, and connection.

We are an interconnected web, hidden, like the vast underground network that makes a forest. And like a forest, if we separate into smaller, divided sections, we all do more poorly.

In this show artist Kim-Lee Kho is interested in the visceral and emotional experience of our human hearts, of the life and connections we can find inside, outside and between our heartspaces.
Heartspace is part of her ongoing exploration of the human heart: as repository for emotions, as metaphor, as physical structure; using it as a gateway to what our hearts mean to us.

The work began with Kho’s fascination for three-dimensional medical models and antique anatomical illustrations on the one hand, and on the other with a stirring of emotion, which moved her hand to draw as a way of contemplating subject matter.

Heartspace explores these ideas in multiple media: drawing, painting, text, photography, digital, fibre, mixed media, film-based transfer prints, sculpture and the artist’s first zine.
. . . . . . .

BIOGRAPHY

Kim-Lee Kho is a self-taught multidisciplinary Canadian artist, and former graphic designer/art director, exploring subjective experience as a gateway to broader human concerns. The daughter of both a scientist and an artist, Kho’s process and interests combine both influences, in sometimes unexpected ways.

Kho has participated nationally in exhibitions, residencies, and mentorships including at Renann Isaacs Contemporary Art (RICA) in Guelph ON, You Me Gallery in Hamilton ON, the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga ON, Evergreen Cultural Centre in Coquitlam BC, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby BC, and as part of a two-year travelling exhibition for the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie in Alberta. She is a multiple Ontario Arts Council grant recipient.

A feature artist in both the 2016 and 2018 In Situ multi-arts festivals, Kho developed large-scale installations in multiple media and live drawing performances for both events, held at the Small Arms Inspection Building (SAIB) in Mississauga ON. Her 2015 solo exhibition Chains Unlinked a multi-layered immersive installation exploring internal and external barriers through temporary mural drawing, video, textile, and sculpture, was at the Art Gallery of Mississauga.

In addition to her creative practice, Kho is a popular and knowledgeable arts instructor. She teaches at Fleming College’s Haliburton School of Art + Design, and Neilson Park Creative Centre in Etobicoke. She also teaches workshops, gives talks, live demonstrations, critiques, and juries exhibitions, at the invitation of numerous art groups, centres and galleries in Ontario.

Heartspace is Kim-Lee Kho’s debut solo exhibition as a member of The Red Head Gallery.

October 30 to November 23, 2019
Opening Reception:
Saturday, November 2, 1–4pm
with artist talk at 2pm

The Red Head Gallery
401 Richmond St. West
Ground floor, Suite 115
Toronto, ON M5V 3A8

Gallery hours:
Weds–Sat 12–5pm

Watch for sneak peeks on social media!
Instagram
Facebook

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Seeking Sponsors for Heartspace Show, Starting at Just $10

10/1/2019

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Hearts Are Messy by Kim-Lee Kho. Inks and acrylic paint pen on Chinese mulberry paper; approx. 30" x 18"; 2018. Can be an image for a sponsorship reward or the original is also available for purchase. Contact me for pricing.

Detail view of Hearts Are Messy. I actually like closeups on this piece a lot, so much that I may produce some prints of those. Let me know if you're interested.

Would you consider becoming a sponsor of Heartspace to help me make the best show I can?

Your interest in and support of my work here (and in-person) means so much, thank you! It spurs me to push myself to do the best work I can.

You may have noticed that I have an upcoming solo exhibition, my first as a member of The Red Head Gallery. Heartspace runs Oct 30–Nov 23, 2019; reception Saturday Nov 2 from 1–4pm; 401 Richmond St West in Toronto.

This is the first time I’ve asked this, but if you know me and my work then you know I do my utmost to create artworks, installations and experiences for artlovers like you to enjoy, and I hope find thoughtful, moving, sometimes challenging, always 🤞 interesting.

My last couple of shows left me gutted financially. So I am asking for your support, by considering sponsoring Heartspace, to help me complete the new pieces and formats.

Sponsorship is easy and starts at just $10
Either an email transfer (via online banking) or use the PayPal button below, no account required.

EMAIL Transfer (see below)

No link, just use your online banking and kimandkal@me.com as my address

PayPal (no acct needed)

This button above will take you directly to PayPal.

Please also send me your email address so I can confirm your name and we can communicate regarding your reward!

Reward Levels:
I will thank all sponsors – at any level – on signage at the exhibition as well as on my website. Some levels include gifts (see below). Please let me know if you prefer anonymity.

💲10 Please accept my sincere thanks 🙏
💲25 My thanks plus I will mail you a set of 3 cards with envelopes, featuring heart-based images 💌
💲60. My thanks plus I will mail you a special edition art print on 5” x 7” hot press paper, signed by me ✍️
💲100 My thanks plus a special edition art print on letter-size (8.5” x 11”) hot press paper OR a similar hand pulled film-based transfer print (featuring irregularities from the process), signed by me, with a handwritten thank you note 📝
💲250 or more Larger print? Small original drawing? Suggest something and we can discuss! 🎁

Fulfillment would begin at the end of the exhibition.

I will be making regular sponsorship posts on social media over the coming weeks, featuring different art images, and repeating this info there so no one has to go hunting for it.

You can find me on:
Instagram and
Facebook

Thanks SO MUCH much for reading and considering!

Heartfelt thanks to my new sponsors!
It means the world to me and to my Heartspace show! If you are able to attend the reception be sure to collect your special sponsor-hug!

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Looking Back at My Own Early Foray into Contemporary Portraiture

5/13/2019

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I’ve been thinking a lot about contemporary portraiture lately, having just given a new talk on the subject, followed by a new weekend workshop.

I’ve been drawing or painting or otherwise making portraits my entire life, and it remains an important aspect of my work.

Nowadays a lot of my portraits are photo-based, as you can see in my posts and website. I got thinking about when I first started working on photo-based and photo-digital portraits, and realized it was for my first solo show as an adult, entitled Face[t]s of Valerie, in 2007. All of the portraits were of my friend Valerie, alone or sometimes in combination with me.

This image was kind of the title piece for the show, and the deepest I explored digitally in it, (the show was multimedia, because I am nothing if not a “multi” kind of artist, lol!). It’s called The Many Facets of Valerie.

In it you can see numerous shots from the bigger shoot, allowing me to show what interested me: the living face of my subject, its variability and expressiveness. “I am large, I contain multitudes” wrote Walt Whitman, as we all are.

So it’s a seminal, developmental piece. It started a train of thought that hasn’t stopped since, though it has branched off and grown in many directions.

19"x13” digital print. And yes, it’s available.

Does this kind of post, deep-diving into an individual piece, interest you? If so, please let me know in the comments.

The Many Facets of Valerie by Kim-Lee Kho is a photo-digital portrait that was seminal in my development. From 2007.

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Preparing for a Big Show

3/6/2019

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Scale model for planning my solo show in the three exhibition rooms at Cedar Ridge Creative Centre.

I am hard at work preparing for my solo show 'Kim-Lee Kho: A Full Heart' at Cedar Ridge Creative Centre March 9–21, 2019. The opening reception will be Sunday, March 10, 1–4pm.

All the prints are made, including the two large new ones (scroll down for a sneak peek of one of them), which I can't wait to see up and share with everyone who's able to visit!

The gallery at Cedar Ridge comprises three main rooms in a historic mansion owned and run by the City of Toronto. There is dark wood trim and features everywhere, a big old fireplace, high ceilings (around 12ft), and baseboards that are at least a foot tall. Full of character, this is a very different kind of space than any I've shown in before.

Because the rooms are full of complications like multiple doorways, built-in bookcases, areas of windows and a big fireplace; and because this is my biggest solo show ever, where I'll be presenting up to 40 pieces/objects, a scale model was absolutely essential to help me plan.

My favourite and always-generous helper Kal Honey put it together for me then helped me plan and curate the show.

Following a site visit when we check and tested a number of aspects, particularly related to hanging methods and details about the space, there will be some adjustments made to our plan. That's why the final number of works isn't quite settled.

I'm continue to work on a sculpture that I hope to include in the show, (working with chicken wire so my hands are getting rather scratched despite mostly wearing gloves), and there are still so many details to look after!

If you can join us for the opening this Sunday, or visit the show anytime through Thursday March 21, I'd be delighted! Hope you can make it!

Please share any questions or comments below.