As an artist, Kate Kelton has a wide and varied practice from paintings and drawings to photography and performance. Her wide ranging genres are based not not just on restless talent, but also she says, “It’s just about what is physically, tangibly possible for me to accomplish. Photography is a lot easier on my hands than painting, but that of course varies from shoot to shoot.”
Her favorite medium however remains the painted canvas. “I think acrylic paint will always be my first love, but I’ve run out of storage and lack ‘the spoons’ to sell off all my beloved old stock that’s currently mostly hanging in my lake house.”
The prolific artist has been through many battles, both in terms of health and her purpose-driven actions “We tried having another gallery show, with Gallery 30 South, a couple years ago but Instagram nearly shut down their account… Elevating survivors comes at a cost in almost every political climate, I’ve found.”
Over the years, her work has changed directions, if not entirely by choice, she notes. “Learning to adjust to market demand while recalibrating expectations according to limitations my body sets has definitely presented a hell of a learning curve. Maintaining the illusion that all is well is a holdover from my acting career, but moving from painting to producing photo shoots and magazines and video content has been a nice throw back to the art and film school days of my youth,” she explains. With this mind, she most recently created a stunning new magazine – eponymously called kelton.
She has a simple explanation for what drew her to make what is truly a compelling new publication. “It will shock no one reading this who knows me that my disabilities led me to be what was endearingly known as, ‘extremely online,’ over the past few decades,” she relates. “And since social media has been weaponized so brutally by the oligarchy class, I’ve resorted to connecting with folks I’m shadow-banned from reaching online via old school email lists and physical throwback media, like this ACTUAL paper and ink magazine. I loved pinning photography I’d torn out of magazines to my walls as a kid, and it became the driving force behind deciding to leave most words out of it.”
For the artist, her magazines origins are a natural progression.
“ When I was growing up I’d send photos abroad to my family and order them very specifically to tell a visual story… the advent of the social media photo carousels elevated this skillset further, culminating in this present day ordering and grouping of visuals for the magazine. I named it not after myself, but my dear late father whose signature makes up my logo. He loved anything aesthetically pleasing from abstract art to the way a wall socket met a corner, say,” she explains. “So the themes tend to find me organically, and mostly show a running commentary of what I’ve been up to lately, be it reacting to the political climate, or simply visiting the deserts, mountains, forests, lakes, ocean or hot springs around me to soothe and fix all the broken down bits currently ailing because of it.” The latest issue of kelton Magazine, Volume 9 is available here.
Kelton notes that the magazine features “my favorite paper artist from Ukraine, Asya Kozina. It also includes work from Swedish installation artists, Anonyouse, as well as from the absolute punk rock visual baddass icon that is Donna Bates, and then the very first immersive womb-like piece of Laurie Shapiro’s I ever walked through!”
Laurie Shapiro, above
She also mentions another recent issue of kelton, Number 8, also still available online. “I’m thrilled to finally showcase your exceptional photography, which I’ve always been such a die hard fan of, for Volume 8, which also showcases a haunting starry sky shot from the days after the Los Angeles fires by artist Steven Wolkoff, recently a part of Mexico’s Clavo art fair. Those images are alongside an incredible moon capture from Canadian artist and photographer Johanne Levesque, from the 13 year old online space, the Cochrane Visual Art Gallery, as well as a sunset dazzler from Toronto artist and crafter Sara Ballantyne.”
With the magazine in full bloom, Kelton says she’s recently “been asked to mull around some ideas for potential comic book covers for Hard Case Crime’s Heat Seeker series. They’re the same publisher who put out, The Colorado Kid, that Stephen King short story my Syfy tv show, Haven, was based on, as well as it’s re-issue, for which I provided inner cover illustrations. I’m excited to branch out into this badass art form as I love their representation of strong women who take no shit… especially right now,” she asserts.
Don’t miss the next step in Kate Kelton’s evolving career or the next issue of her beautiful magazine.
– Genie Davis; photos provided by Kate Kelton