Artist Feature // 5 Questions for K’era Morgan

K’era is a LA-based mixed media artist who gravitates to creating works on paper.

I am smitten with K’era’s work! Her mixed media creations are based in an intuitive art practice. Each piece is a non-linear story woven together of found fragments from the world around her. They are super-textured and include found paper sourced from magazines, newspapers and books, as well as hand-painted paper.

She says that her work is a reflection of her mood, with color and brushstrokes and mark-making heavily representing the essence of a feeling, emotion or thought in the exact moment.

Learn more and read my Q&A with K’era, below.

5 Questions for K’era Morgan

1) What is your favorite kind of work to do at the moment?

I’m currently still in love with paper. Handmade paper, found paper, paper from books, junk mail, magazines… It’s all ripe for manipulating, cutting, tearing and painting on top of to create my collage paintings. Paper is also my chosen canvas. Although I do have a love of textiles (obviously), it all starts on paper.

2) What kinds of things inspire you?

I think like most people, nature is quite inspiring to me, but my daily inspiration comes from the world around me. My paintings are a physical representation of how I process the world and the emotions that are swirling around my body. They capture or chart this unconscious process that all human beings take part in day in and day out which is: the constant narrative we tell ourselves that is informed by information we pull from the world around us to create our own reality.

3) Who else do you admire in the art space?

I’m in constant admiration of every artist I meet. Of course there are the big names whose work leaves me speechless, like Lorna Simpson, Mark Bradford, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, and Christina Quarles — but it’s also the artists like me that aren’t written about in major art publications and aren’t showing in blue chip galleries but are doing the work and putting it out into the world. That takes courage. It takes perseverance, and it’s more than honorable — it’s downright inspirational.

4) Coolest possession?

I have so many possessions that I’ve collected over the years and throughout my travels but I think the most recent item I snatched up is this woven mask I snatched up in Mexico City at the Carla Fernandez boutique. I love her work and that she has honored the native craft traditions throughout Mexico in her clothing line. The mask is made of dried grass that has been naturally dyed this golden yellow. I’ll admit it’s a little eerie, but that was done purposefully. I happen to think it wards off evil spirits.

5) Favorite quote or words to live by?

“The only thing that is constant is change.”

I don’t know who originally said that but it was something my mother said to me at a time in my life when I was experiencing a major growth spurt, emotionally speaking — and as we all know, growing can be painful. It’s helped me to stay grounded during absolute blissful times, and it’s helped me heal during times of absolute pain.