M. Kemper Westbrook
About
I have no formal art training. I'm self taught and my work usually reflects a mood or thoughts I'm mulling over. My background is in literature and education. For most of my adult life, I've thought of myself as an English teacher and writer. During the early days of the pandemic, with four young sons at home and a husband in graduate school, I found that painting with my boys' Crayola watercolor sets was incredibly soothing in a very stressful time. I have painted almost every day since then.
When my father died late in 2020, I began adding drawings and snippets of poetry on top of my paintings to help me sort through my grief. Now I am weaving together my education background into my art and have been teaching workshops on painting, poetry, and creativity for children and adults. I'm so thankful for the outlet painting has provided for me, and I'm so touched when I learn that my work resonates with others.
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M. Kemper Westbrook
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M. Kemper Westbrook
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3 questions on inspiration with
M. Kemper Westbrook
We're asking artists to choose one notable person, place and object that has inspired them in their journey so far. We're mapping inspiration at a scale never attempted before
Person
My dad died around the time that I first started painting. After he died, my art has been a desperate attempt to reflect, to set in stone, to make it known what a good, good man he was. My mom and dad taught me to find beauty everywhere and made me believe I have an ability to interpret and share that beauty in a way that matters.
Place
My back porch in East Atlanta is where I do most of my painting and that setting inspires me a lot-- I'm a mile from the bustling interstate, but nestled in among old growth trees. Atlanta is known for being the city in a forest. I love that duality. Much of my work explores the ideas of living two opposing things at once: grief and joy, aspiration and exhaustion, hope and fear. I always say that my part of Atlanta (East Atlanta Village) is like all the best parts of living in a big city plus all the benefits of living in a small town.
Object
I love trees. They are so symbolic to me. I love looking at trees and drawing and painting them-- not in a realistic way, but trying to represent how they seem to me.
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