Planning Organized Chaos: Interview with Artist Katherine Criss

Bridges loom in the background as disembodied hands hold up blue eyes to the amusement of cats and birds; shadows, puzzle pieces, and gears also appear in the complex, surreal, and gorgeous collages created by Long Island based artist Katherine Criss. In October 2024 (from the 2nd to the 27th) Katherine will enjoy a solo show at Huntington’s renowned BJ Spoke Gallery where seventeen new collages (and four created in the last ten years) will be displayed. The show — which is aptly titled “Planning, Organized Chaos” — will feature an artist’s reception on Saturday, October 12, from 2–5pm with an Artist Talk at 3pm.

Katherine regards her work as a meditative practice and she regularly combines photography with paint and paper. Each of her collages is symbolic of her struggles to make sense out of life and every single one of them is crafted with emphasis placed on lines, colors, and shapes to create a distinctive atmosphere.

Katherine recently discussed her work via an exclusive interview.

Meagan Meehan (MM): How did you come up with the title for this show?

Katherine Criss (KC): I adapted the it from the titled of a book I am working on titled Growing up in Creative Chaos.

MM: Why do you gravitate towards collage?

KC: I made a conscious choice to present only collages for this exhibit because creating them is second nature to me. My father, Francis Criss (a WPA modernist mural painter), always meticulously planned out his paintings, and toward the end of his life created a series of collages he thought of as starts of new works. I helped him with these as a teenager. Therefore collage seemed like second nature to use to express my these collages meditations on life in today’s world. The uncertainties of daily changes to what had been accepted the norm.

MM: Out of all of your pieces, do you have any favorites? If so, which ones and why?

KC: For the first time I can say that I feel like they are all my children, and that I don’t have favorites. I do however feel that War Dance is powerful, that Blue Rock, Cat and Flying Fish is playful, and Wired is tense.

MM: How do your life experiences — such as growing up in NYC as the daughter of an artist — inspire your creative drive?

KC: When I could no longer stifle my creative urges, I asked myself what made me feel at peaceful and calm. The answer was while making art.

MM: What propelled you to get involved with BJ Spoke gallery and how has that affiliation helped you get your art seen?

KC: When I met my husband, John Kabo, and moved to Long Island, I was at first feeling isolated so I went looking for a community of artists and other likeminded people.

MM: What other shows has your work been featured prominently in?

KC: My work was selected for both the 2010 and the 2012 Long Island Biennial of Long Island Art sponsored by the Heckscher Museum. Then in 2022 I was invited to have a solo exhibit at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock. I hung a total of 80 photographs and paintings.

MM: You have also worked as a curator, so how did you get into that and what sorts of shows do you curate?

KC: Three come to mind: In April of 1993 I was commissioned by the National Board of the YWCA of the USA to curate and produce Women First for 135 Years, an exhibition of historic images and memorabilia from the YWCA’s archive. This show opened at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. and traveled across the country. (2)“As a creative leader I organized” is an ongoing Artists Circle that discusses of creativity. It is open to the community providing a dialogue for better understanding of how art impacts lives. The Artists Circle meets at B.J. Spoke Gallery in Huntington (starting in 2007- present). (3) In 2016 created a mural to the Town of Riverhead while participating in the East End Arts 2016 Jumpstart program. The artists involved produced art that reflected the economic revitalization of Riverhead as a cultural center on Long Island.

MM: What’s coming up next for you?

KC: I want to finish the book I started (Growing up in Creative Chaos).

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To learn more, visit Katherine Criss’ official website: www.CrissArtArchive.com