Artist Statement

I love playing the relationship between lines, shapes, textures, and color; developing images of depth and dimension that provoke curiosity. Creating works that aren’t immediately recognizable or labeled gives me a sense of openness for change and unexpected movement within them.  

The unexpected and my desire to experiment have influenced me in use gunpowder as an art medium. The very nature of exploding it to burn paper and create artworks Is like trying to orchestrate chaos. And I find joy and excitement when I can experience a state of flow within that realm of chaos. There is an immediate connection with each explosion – an uncontrollable, unexpected outcome that allows, even forces me to work with the unexpected and see possibilities beyond my initial intent. 

I want my art to also offer viewers an opportunity for curiosity: whether it’s visually meandering through the entire piece or getting lost in the tiny elements of movement and depth within larger individual shapes; to contemplating their feelings and interpertation or trying to solve the technical aspects of its creation. All of those elements are part of my creation process.

A mini documentary (1.5 min) by Marnie Craig.

Gunpowder as an Art Medium

I thrive on the unpredictable, complex process of creating art by exploding gunpowder to burn paper. Working with an art medium where mistakes can’t be painted over, or erased can be challenging and occasionally frustrating. But my curiosity is the biggest contributor to my creativity. Mistakes provide so many new possibilities… experimenting is just part of who I am.

As an artist and competition shooter I inevitably discovered the artwork of master gunpowder artist, Cai Quo-Qiang. I was captivated by Cai’s work…ran into my studio for paper, to the basement for gunpowder, grabbed the fire extinguisher on the way out the door, and immediately fell in love with it as an art process.”

Creating art with gunpowder is kind of like life – unexpected and unwanted things are going to happen. It’s how we react to those things that really makes the difference. ~ KJ

The Process

 All artworks are original, and created by exploding gunpowder to burn paper. Various types and amounts of gunpowder are put on the paper, along with organic objects, inorganic objects and/or templates depending on the desired result. It is then covered and ignited causing a small explosion that burns the paper. The process is then repeated using various techniques as many as 80 or more times to achieve the final art.