Kristen Frenzel & Mason Frenzel
Bio
Kristen Frenzel earned a BFA in Painting from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN. Since graduating, she has been a part of many invitational and juried exhibitions in the Nashville area. Mason Frenzel earned his B. S. degree from MTSU in film and media production. He is also a singer-songwriter who heads up his own band, Sleeptalker. He has provided artwork for various CD covers. This is the first art show in which he and his wife Kristen Frenzel have presented artwork together.
Artist Statement
My work explores the concepts of family, expectations, domestic life, childhood innocence, and the tension between them. Each painting tells a story of how specific moments in history combine to create who we are as individuals. I tend to take a lighthearted and playful approach to this subject matter including imagery that ranges from floral patterns and human faces to bird’s nests and teddy bears. This imagery combined with a primarily bright color palette touches on the childlike innocence that I believe we all have in us and should strive to recapture. I apply many layers of paper and paint, each one adding history and contributing to a richer and more complex end result. Family photos, stuffed animals, and fabric patterns inspire much of the imagery in these layers and are often incorporated into a quilt-like structure. For me, this quilt-like structure has a strong association with family history and the idea that many individual parts make up a whole just as we are all made up of our many experiences.
