Kim Flora is a painter and collage artist based in Cincinnati, Ohio. A graduate of the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Ms. Flora received honors in both Fine Art and Art History and currently serves as Head of Design and Installation, at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, the industrial coastline continues to inform her work. Ms. Flora has exhibited at Wright State University, The University of Wisconsin, Phyllis Weston Gallery, PAC Gallery, Manifest Gallery as well as the Cincinnati Art Museum. She was awarded a summer studio in Munich, Germany, through the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich and received a City of Cincinnati Individual Artist Grant in 2008. Flora's work can be found in numerous private and public collections including Baltimore County Public Schools, Tente International, The Cincinnati Art Museum and Jack Casino.

"I've considered myself an artist for as long as I can remember. At the age of six, I was writing and illustrating my own stories, at seven, eight and nine, I was constructing mobiles and dioramas at every opportunity. My uncle on my mom’s side, a graphic artist, first introduced me to watercolor as a child. By my teenage years I was painting in oil. This passion and skill was further developed at an magnet art high school, Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts, in Baltimore County Maryland, followed by my studies in painting and art history here at the Art Academy of Cincinnati.

I am motivated by the land and cityscapes I experience on a daily basis and the impact of light on these spaces. While capturing the ambience of my environment, I have a particular enthusiasm for the intersection of nature and architecture in both familiar and foreign places. I am interested in creating tangible objects from the fluidity of memory, in an attempt to archive these experiences. Equally important in my work is the attention to mood, atmosphere and weather conditions. The sky, sea, horizon, bridges, docks and train tracks are the primary subjects of my paintings.

I was first introduced to the medium of encaustic (molten wax) painting while taking a materials and techniques class at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. That class introduced me to a variety of traditional art making techniques such as silverpoint, egg tempera, as well as encaustic. I was immediately drawn to this medium because it allowed me to execute both painting and collage on the same surface. Wax for me, functions as both a paint and an adhesive. My work is constructed through multiple layers of collaged paper, pigmented wax, and paint - that is brushed, scraped, gouged, poured, cut and otherwise manipulated to both revealing and concealing ends. This physical, multimedia approach to picture making serves to realign fragments of my own personal narrative, while providing space for the viewer to reflect on their own experiences." Kim Flora