About Kris
Kris Ekstrand is a west coast painter and printmaker who addresses the estuarine landscapes of the Skagit Valley in northwest Washington in her work as well as those near her home in Petaluma, California. She lives with her writer husband, Carl Molesworth, and two Norwich terriers.
“On the level of representation, Ekstrand’s new works whisper distant horizons, big skies, and Skagit fields. But, on the deepest level, they are reflections of the artist at play with light and dark, with pure shape, form, and texture. Her monotypes reveal the inherent beauty that pure tonality can offer. They are rich, deep and other-worldly.”
An artist, writer and teacher, Albala's book, Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice, is the best-selling landscape painting book in the U.S.
Artist’s Statement
The paintings on this site represent an important shift in my studio practice as well as my personal life. Having spent most of my adult life living and working in the Skagit Valley of northwest Washington – my studio was situated along a tidal slough in the village of Edison – my husband, Carl, and I decided to take on a new adventure and relocate to Northern California this past spring. The weather, light and topography of Sonoma County were all new to me and it has been exciting to “feel” my way around it, visually, by drawing and painting. However, many elements of this new place feel quite familiar to me and I am drawn to some of the same aspects that you may see in my work: the intersection of damp marshes and fertile farmland, the effect of rising tidelines on aging dikes and the magical effect of shifting weather and skies on the landscape.
Coincidentally, my new studio is, again, situated next to a tidal slough – the Petaluma River. It flows through a busy town center then reaches across a vast estuary in a network of diked loops, marshes and oxbows until it reaches San Pablo Bay. Like the Skagit and Samish delta, it provides rich habitat for a diverse biosystem as well as evidence of the effect of rising sea levels on adjacent farmland and an aging system of dikes. In California as in Washington, I am captivated by the interplay of contrasting elements: old and new, manmade and natural, the intricate scritch-scratch of surface texture and the beautiful blur of distance….
As I did in Edison, I take my coffee out every day to observe the tide level, the weather and any visiting wildlife along the river. I am reminded of how much I learned about the Skagit/Samish landscape by painting it: it took so long to appreciate its complexities. Will I ever learn to see the nuances, the tensions and the story behind the beauty of this new place? All I know is that, as always, painting will be my greatest and most generous teacher.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS OF NEW WORK
2022 Smith & Vallee Gallery, Edison (WA) with sculptor Peregrine O’Gormley (October)
2021 Smith & Vallee Gallery; Edison (WA) with wood and bronze sculptor Andrew Vallee (January)
2020 Jansen Art Center; Lynden, WA (January-February)
2019 Smith & Vallee Gallery; Edison (WA) with sculptor Marceil Delacy (August).
2019 MUSEO Gallery; Langley (WA) with Michael Dickter (July)
2018 Smith and Vallee Gallery; Edison, WA, with master sculptor Philip McCracken (May)
Anacortes Arts Festival: mural commission for permanent installation, Anacortes (July)
2017 MUSEO Gallery; Langley, WA
Smith and Vallee Gallery; Edison, WA
2016 MUSEO Gallery; Langley, WA
Roby King Gallery; Bainbridge, WA
2015 MUSEO Gallery; Langley, WA
Smith and Vallee Gallery; Edison, WA
2014 MUSEO Gallery; Langley, WA
Smith and Vallee Gallery; Edison, WA
Anacortes Arts Festival Focus Gallery; Anacortes, WA
Front Gallery; Mount Vernon, WA
2013 Smith and Vallee Gallery; Edison, WA
2012 Moses Lake Museum, “Drawings from Grand Coulee;” Moses Lake, WA (Large scale work completed on site while camping and hiking in the coulee region.)
2011Smith and Vallee Gallery; Edison, WA
2008 Skagit Valley College Art Gallery; Mount Vernon, Washington, “What You Don’t See: Field Drawings from the Upper Skagit” (Large-scale work completed on site including a 15-foot three-dimensional field journal.)
INVITATIONAL AND JURIED SHOWS
2023 ArtSpirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene (ID), “Peace of it All “
2022 Smith & Vallee Gallery, “This Land” invitational landscape show
2020
MUSEO Gallery; Langley, WA (February); New work in a four-person show
Museum of Northwest Art “Betty Black Collection”
Perry Carlson Gallery; Mount Vernon, WA
2019
Smith & Vallee Gallery, “Strange Bird;”
MUSEO, “Playlist;”
Arts Alive Exhibition; La Conner, WA
2018
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, “Home;” Bainbridge, WA
MUSEO Gallery
Olympic College Gallery; Bremerton, WA
Museum of Northwest Art,”Printmaking;” La Conner, WA
2017
Perry Carlson Gallery, “Resist;” Mount Vernon, WA
MUSEO Gallery
2016
Smith and Vallee Gallery
MUSEO Gallery
Anacortes Arts Festival Art at the Port; Anacortes, WA
Perry Carlson Gallery, “Skagit Women Print;” Mount Vernon, WA
2015
Roby King Gallery, “Northwest Printmakers;” Bainbridge, WA
Shoreline Community College: “Skagit Women Print;” Shoreline, WA
Depot Gallery; Anacortes, WA
Smith and Vallee Gallery, “Winter Birds”
2014
Moses Lake Museum, “Layers of Perception;” Moses Lake, WA
Anchor Art Space, “Skagit Women Print;” Anacortes, WA
Smith and Vallee Gallery, “Sky”
2013
Atelier 6000, “Northwest Icons;” Bend, OR
Smith and Vallee Gallery, “Bird Show”
Anchor Art Space, “Shaping the Northwest Landscape;” Anacortes, WA
2012
Smith and Vallee Gallery, “Northwest Printmakers”
Center on Contemporary Art, “Alive, Dead”
2011
Edison Eye Gallery, “ New Work by Skagit Artists”
2009
Smith and Vallee Gallery, “The Bird Show”
2009
Smith and Vallee Gallery, “Confluence: Artists of the North Cascades”
2007
Smith and Vallee Gallery, “Field Season: New Work from the North Cascades”
2004
Edison Eye Gallery, “Heads”
2002
Edison Eye Gallery, “Three Women Print”
CURATING
“Jesus Guillén: an artistic legacy of love and courage”
Skagit County History Museum
La Conner, WA (2021)
“Layers of Perception: Five Northwest artists explore grids, webs and line.”
Moses Lake Museum, WA (2014)
SELECT COLLECTIONS
North Cascades Institute
Hospice of the Northwest
Anacortes Arts Festival
Furlong Butler Attorneys
Skagit Law Group
City of Anacortes
EDUCATION
B.F.A., Pacific Lutheran University
Cornish College of Allied Arts, Seattle
