Artist Profile: Kristie Brooks-Paige

Creating Spiritual Richness Through Shapes, Lines, and Colors

By Ellen Samsell Salas

Painter Kristie Brooks-Paige has always had an artists eye. On family road trips, Brooks-Paige eagerly soaked up the passing rural and urban landscapes.

My father would drive us to New York, she said. I was fascinated with buildings, with brownstones. I just love the shapes.

Today, her childhood fascination with shapes and colors finds expression in Brooks-Paiges paintings. In a style she calls urban folklore, she conveys an uplifting, childlike innocence and optimism. Through the whimsical interplay of active shapes and lines and muted as well as vibrant colors, the scenes come alive even the buildings seem to be moving.

The viewer is treated to a snapshot of city streets and suburban avenues and their inhabitants. Brooks-Paiges first expression of this subject grew from a trip to Cleveland where, sitting with a friend, she could see children on a playground.

They were stick-like silhouettes, and I thought it was just beautiful, said Brooks-Paige.

Returning to her home in Staunton, Virginia, Brooks-Paige couldnt wait to capture those figures, and although she exhibited the painting of the children on the playground, she wouldnt sell it.

While her urban folklore style paintings are her most frequently requested, Brooks-Paiges studies of people also evoke human connection and emotion. Set against boldly colored backgrounds amid simply rendered settings, the figures, which mirror her silhouette figures but are larger and fill the foreground, communicate mood and feeling.

Im not doing straight realism. Im doing something that came out of me in a divine moment, Brooks-Paige explained. Sometimes, when I wake up, Ill see thats how Im going to paint. It will come to me.

Deep connection to her subjects and her art is apparent.
At the start of the day, I know I want to do something uplifting, and thats the feeling I get when I paint, Brooks-Paige said.

Painting daily is essential, often in the solitude of early morning and late at night.

I find energy for my art. Its automatic. When its time to paint, its time to paint. I feel relaxed and free when I paint, said Brooks-Paige.

Brooks-Paige has painted for as long as she can remember.
From the time I was a small child, my father would paint, and I would paint whenever he did. I watched him and asked questions, she said.

It was her high school art teacher, Dorothy Dunnings, who planted the idea that she could make art her career. Heartened by Dunnings encouragement, Brooks-Paige enrolled at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where she majored in fashion illustration/graphic design. The chance to design apparel graphics brought her to Georgia and led to a successful 13 years in that field. 

Brooks-Paige has exhibited her work extensively, including at the Shenandoah Valley Art Center, the 2011 Art is King exhibit in Atlanta, and the 2018 Douglasville Vine Cafe and Market Exhibit. Currently, she is preparing for a juried exhibit to be presented in the metro Atlanta area. She is also painting for an exhibit at the Artisans Loft in Staunton and volunteers as a docent at MOCA Georgia.

Brooks-Paiges work can be seen at KristiesArt.com.