Kendra Larson

The first thing Kendra Larson learned to draw was conifer trees when she was seven. It was with her mom on a hike just north of Seattle. The air was crisp and it smelled like pines. There were mushrooms and slugs hiding in plain sight. Her mom showed her how to make the tree trunks darker on the sides to make them look cylindrical. Taking the time to observe the shadow shapes, Kendra worked the graphite to a stub. Larson was born in Salem, Oregon and lived there until she was eighteen. She moved to Portland and received her BFA from the Pacific NW College of Art and, following a residency at Caldera Artist Residency in Sisters Oregon, she began drawing large scale, charcoal landscapes. Full of awe and Romanticism, these drawings depicted the haunting mood and regenerative qualities of burnt forests. In 2006, she attended the New Pacific Studios artist residency in New Zealand, a land that was clear cut to make way for farming. These stark rolling hills gave her a better appreciation for how nature is understood in the Pacific Northwest: a balance between treating the woods as a recreational treasure, spiritual beacon, and economic commodity.

Later that year, Kendra moved to Madison, Wisconsin for graduate school. She quickly be...

MA, MFA University of Wisconsin, Madison
BFA Pacific NW College of Art

SOLO EXHBITIONS
2017 Augen Gallery, Portland, OR
2016 Augen Gallery, Portland, OR
2015 Providence Hospital, Portland, OR
Lower Columbia College, Longview , WA
2014 Oranj Studios, Portland, OR
2013 Blackfish Gallery: Fishbowl Window Project, Portland, OR.
Window Project, PDX Contemporary, Portland, OR
Mt Hood Community College, Portland, OR
2012 RACC Installation Art Series, Portland Building, Portland, OR
Roger W. Rogers Gallery, Willamette University, Salem, OR
George Fox University, Minthorne Art Gallery, Newberg, OR
2011 Half Dozen Gallery, Portland, OR
Helzer Art Gallery, PCC Rock Creek Campus, Portland, OR
Launchpad Gallery, Portland, OR 2010:
Blackfish Gallery: Fishbowl Window Project, Portland, OR.
Half Dozen Gallery: Front Porch Project, Portland, OR
Orlo, Portland, OR
2009 Valentine's, Portland, OR
Common Wealth Gallery, Madison, WI
2008 Madison Municipal Building ARTSpace, Madison, WI
The Knapp House, Madison, WI
2006 Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton, New Zealand

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 Umpqua Valley Arts Association, Roseberg, OR
Augen Gallery, Portland, OR
2017 High Desert Museum, Bend, OR
High Street Gallery, Salem, OR...