Artist Spotlight: Jenny Kastner
Canada has produced some of the world’s finest interpretational landscape artists, and Cottage Country is no exception. Standing on the shoulders of the likes of the Group of Seven, Buckhorn-area artist Jenny Kastner is an active participant in the kinetic energy of the landscape she paints, and she pulls you in with her – feeling, hearing, smelling as well as seeing the richness of it all.
We recently had a chat with Kastner about her passion, her process and her plans.
Q: How old were you when you realized you were destined to pursue art as a career?
JK: Art was always a passion and not something I initially imagined as a career option. I pursued an avenue that I believed would keep art in my work life and obtained a B.Ed from OISE, hoping to work as an art teacher. I taught high school for 6 years and then had my first son, Finn. I took a leave for two years to be with him and had no idea that this leave would be the catalyst for a whole new life as an artist. So I guess I was 30 when I began to realize that I was destined to pursue being an artist as a career, but I should have known when I was a kid!
Q: How did you get started?
JK: I started painting as a child and loved it through my youth and teenage years. So I guess my mom got me started. As for art as a career though, initially, it was a rather organic shift. I slowly began to create a body of work that felt really consistent with my aesthetic; the first piece was actually finished while I was (unknowingly) in early labour. During my time on maternity leave I spent a lot of time just really committing to the work of interpreting and expressing these landscapes of ‘home’ that had qualities of childhood nostalgia for me. I tossed a lot of work, painted over a lot of work and had a lot of frustrating moments with my creative process. Ultimately though, I learned to embrace the ride and stick with my artistic vision again and again. It was hard work. The more I did it though, the more my work became something I thought was a valuable part of the contemporary landscape conversation. I applied to a couple of galleries and got accepted and my work began to sell quickly.
Q: It is obvious that nature is your biggest inspiration. Describe the process as you decide what story you want to tell with each painting.
JK: Yeah, for sure! Like a lot of people who spend time in the Kawarthas in any capacity, I think we all have these “wow” moments. What I try to do is harness those moments and document them in my own unique way. Sometimes it is a certain light, or reflective quality of a lake or river. Other times, a dynamic wind or the warm smells and sounds of cicadas in a pine stand. I usually frantically try to take a short video or photograph and then shortly thereafter combine sketches and colour palettes to try to tell that story. My sketches are black ink line drawings just mapping out a composition and focussing on the movement and gesture. I work from both photos and sketches when I paint and I try to create a piece that situates the viewer “in” the painting foreground. The perspective is meant to draw you in and for you to imagine moving through the work.
Q: Do you work ‘en plein air’? From photographs? Describe your method and your medium (media) of choice. 
JK: I do not work en plein air, though I would like to! It just currently doesn’t suit my life with two young children. My pursuit of inspiration almost always involves them. Sometimes we are paddling together or going on a hike or a boat ride or just hanging out. In those moments, I am always open to looking closely at our surroundings and if my kids catch me taking a photo or lost in my thoughts, they even sometimes notice what it is that is inspiring to me and say “you should paint that”. Those are beautiful moments; sharing an inspiring connection to nature. By combining these experiences, videos and photographs, I come up with compositions and conceptual expressions of place. From there, my paintings become reactions and expressions of those moments in time- each one has a special memory and story attached.
I sketch out a composition with a thinned black liquid acrylic on a canvas grounded with red. About 7 years ago I started to paint 90% of my work on a canvas grounded with red. The colour effect is really quite powerful and makes the cool colours pop off the canvas and the complimentary greens vibrate alongside the red ‘peekaboos’ or deliberate gaps in my paintwork.
Q: How has your style evolved? Has it been inspired by other artists?
JK: Hmmmmm great question! I’m not always aware of the ways in which my style has evolved. The most common reference I get with my work is that it is a ‘modern take’ on the Group of Seven, and while I can’t say that I am greatly inspired directly by their work, I don’t think any Canadian Landscape painter can say that they are not in some ways inspired by their legacy, subconsciously even! Having people connect my work with theirs is humbling to say the least.
I think my style is defined by a very deliberate gestural composition with emphasis on movement, line, and colour, in an effort to animate and heighten the experience of place. Pops of cobalt teal highlights are meant to overemphasize the foreground. My biggest influences are Emily Carr, Jules de Balincourt and Peter Doig. I’m also in love with the bold palette and graphic qualities of Indigenous artists Norvel Morrisseau and Daphne Odjig, as well as Bill Reid.
Q: When people see your art, what do you hope they take away from the experience?
JK: I think most importantly, I want people to be drawn into an experience of place that overwhelms their senses. I like to remember that inspiration and awe in our natural world is universal; I think we all have these primordial relationships to nature and especially movement in nature. Each painting is inspired by a different gesture in the landscape, and the story I want to tell is like a graphic novel experience of the Canadian landscape that the viewer is moving through. In most of my paintings, I like to allow people to imagine themselves embraced by the scene and imagining where they might go next. There is often a path or an obvious journey that continues somewhere in the composition. I hope that viewers are left with an overwhelming desire to connect with their own landscapes, wherever in the world that might be.
Q: How long have you been exhibiting at Gallery on the Lake? Tell us about that experience.
JK: Wow- I think I have been there for 5 years! I remember visiting Gallery On The Lake and really being struck by the richness of the experience; the location in the forest and on Buckhorn Lake, the magnitude of the building and the overwhelming collection of Canadian art it housed. I was really excited to show my work in my own backyard— I’m only a 12-minute drive from the gallery. Esther represented my work so well and gave me an opportunity to be a feature artist in 2018 showing in the main space for a month. The show did really well and my work has been selling consistently quickly since I started showing there. Esther has been a great gallery owner to work with and I enjoy our warm working relationship!
Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself – background, family, where you’re from – anything you think our readers need to know about Jenny Kastner.
JK: My parents met at Trent University and after moving around Ontario with my Dad’s work in my younger years, my family settled in Lakefield. My sister and I spent hours across from each other at an easel from a very young age and were raised to be creative spirits. No TV allowed! LOL. I spent time on Catchacoma Lake as a young child at a family cottage and those memories are rich with nostalgia. It might be where my love of toads and salamanders began. After completing a B.A. at Trent University and Arts Education at OISE, I moved to a pretty remote cottage on Stoney Lake with my husband Jay. We spent the winters trying to thaw our water line and keeping a dangerously hot fire going to try to keep up with the heat loss through our single pane windows and gaping draughty entrance doors. We have since moved to a much warmer old cottage where we are raising our family and I paint above a two-storey boathouse; the first time I have had a studio separate from my home. I have found having kids to be endlessly nostalgic. Our sons, Finn and Ozzy, are my single biggest inspiration; imagining the world through their eyes and answering all of their dynamic questions fuels my artistic practice in the most beautiful ways. We travel often and all love mountains and jungles, surfing and snowboarding (even our 4-year-old) and taking the backroads on roadtrips.
Q: Artists and artisans everywhere are reeling from the impact of COVID-19 – do you typically participate in art festivals and/or shows? If so, how are you coping with the loss of this important venue for exposure and sales?
JK: I don’t typically participate in the festival circuit, but I really feel for a lot of my artist friends right now who are typical festival/art show vendors. Covid-19 has really halted the art world as we knew it. However, with people at home and online more than ever right now, I have found my sales to be somewhat steady. Artist features from last year with My Modern Met and BOOOOOOM as well as my Instagram followers have really supported my work during this time. I have a list of commissions into the Fall right now! I was painting scenes from Colorado and Manitoba in July!
Q: What does the future hold for you? Longterm plans? Any final thoughts you want to share with our readers?
JK: Wow great question and weird timing! I hope the future holds my very best work yet! I hope that I manage to always be grateful of this gift of my life as a mother and artist. Those solo moments in my studio that have been so sacred these past 8 years with a child in my care every day are about to grow exponentially as my youngest starts school in September. It is a time I have been waiting for patiently. I always have a million new ideas I want to work to create; new series, collaborative projects, artist in residency opportunities, workshops and a children’s book. Where to dedicate the energy first?! I will let my inspiration lead the way.
Jenny Kastner, www.jennykastner.com
jennyleighkastner@gmail.com 705-927-0812
Visit Gallery On The Lake, County Rd. 36, 3 km east of Buckhorn
By Belinda Wilson
