Kristen Sorrows
Kristen Sorrows may be a Georgia-based artist, but she has her heart in the North Carolina mountains. You’ve probably seen her work in The Molly Grace on Main in Highlands. The colorful symbols and messages of faith in her painting/collage bring joy to all those who relish her visual stories.
Authors such as Aesop, Homer, and Gayle Ross of the Cherokee Nation tell the tales of humanity and deity. Kristen has created her own artistic view of spirit and humankind in her illuminations.
Kristen says that, while homebound with heaps of free time during the Covid era, “I figured out how I could dive further into the passion that I love through the gift I was given.”
She expanded her artistic journey by including collage, texture, and figures in her artwork.
“I use animals to convey human emotion,” Kristen says.
Her process begins by painting an abstract background. “I sense something in the paint that makes me feel connected to the art.”
She calls her work mixed media abstract realism.
She explains, “I always start with abstraction and then pull the realism outside. An animal appears and its story unfolds.”
She focuses on the being’s eyes. Emotion shows through the animal’s features in a kind of anthropomorphism. We see ourselves in the character and relate to the creature’s circumstance.
“Curiously, I have in mind what I want to present when I start,” Kristen says, “but it never turns out as I planned, at least consciously. As I work through my piece I see things that give me new feelings, symbolic insight, life-connections.” It’s kind of where-did-that-come-from?
How do her messages appear?
She says, “Different key concepts like tenderness, protection, healing, and solitude become hidden treasures, little messages, things that convey scripture, maybe a quote I didn’t even notice when I was painting and collaging. They simply appear.”
That is why she believes these are messages from a higher power.
Every viewer of her work receives his/her own message. The result: Wildlife realism meets soulful story-telling, along with symbolic messages and hidden treasures. What lovely gifts these are, filled with discovery and joy.
Visit Molly Grace at 371 Main Street in Highlands. Kristen will be at the shop on July 11 from Noon to 3:00 P.M.
For more information, call (828) 526‑8390 or email mollygracecorp@gmail.com and inquire about Kristen Sorrows.
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