Kayeri Akweks Bio, Artist Statement, and Education
Encouraging each of us to look closer, relishing our natural world.
Short Bio
Kayeri's work is about personal transformation by connecting to nature utilizing art. She is interested in portraiture within the integrity and symbols of nature.
Kayeri holds a Certificate of Indian Status, Canada, Upper Mohawk at Six Nations, Grand River, Ontario. Her family names are Burnham, John/s, Anderson.
Kayeri Akweks lives and works in western Oregon, near the Mohawk River and Valley which she finds ironic. Kayeri has access to gardens, mountains, rivers, streams, fields, forests, coasts, and the ocean. She has a large extended family and multiple communities in the western United States, New York State, Ontario, and Quebec. She finds beautiful, natural treasures in each of these wonderful places.
Her earliest memory of drawing was when she was 5 years old trying to align the perspective of a paper drinking straw within a glass. For her, drawing, inking, and watercolor washes are about seeing and studying intricate structures within focused, intimate observation.
Artist Statement
I am immersed in a study of nature and the human face as it relates to the natural world. With each work, I aim to gain greater artistic skill and knowledge about our earth, humanity, and nature. I am interested in what the work will reveal within the moment, in the technical doing, and through the sustained longtime practice.
The earth and I know each other. She most likely knows me much better than I do myself. I believe that our planet has things she wants to teach me. I believe I am somehow important to her. I believe that I have responsibilities in my relationship to the earth. I want to be involved in the intimacy of communicating with precious nature and actively participate in the earth's varied communities.
Description of the Work
Each work is a compilation of portraits, botanical art, naturalistic art, and abstraction taken from natural forms, with transcendent patterning and mark marking. Each work holds a dynamic tension of realism and abstraction, with traditional and contemporary concepts.
Education
2017, MFAIA, Goddard College, Port Townsend, WA campus.
2024 Copyright applies to all images on this website and the actual artwork.
All images are owned by Kayeri Akweks. No image may be reproduced for any reason without written permission of the artist.