Kings Beach Art Banners

Art Banners on Kings Beach Streetlights.

North Tahoe Business Association celebrates the completion of the Kings Beach Commercial Core Improvement Project with 15 original art banners on streetlights throughout downtown Kings Beach, and two of those banners are images of two of my paintings.  They were installed yesterday and will remain for the summer.

Crystal Bay Boulders

located in front of Lakeshore Sports

8499 North Lake Boulevard

This image was taken from Crystal Bay Boulders, an original acrylic painting inspired by massive rock formations found off the Crystal Bay Point, North Lake Tahoe.  Crystal Bay Boulders sold earlier this summer.

Fall Leaves

Located on the South Side of the intersection of Hwy 267

8692 North Lake Blvd.

This image was taken from Fall Leaves, an original watercolor painting inspired by the intense colors found in Aspen leaves that scatter over the ground and shimmer on the trees during fall time at Lake Tahoe.  This painting has sold but giclee prints are available.  

I am honored to have my work selected for display during this celebratory time in my home town of Kings Beach.  Thank you North Tahoe Business Association.

Crystal Bay Boulders, Banner Art

Fall Leaves, Banner Art

More about the banners can be found by clicking HERE

To contact me click HERE

To visit my web site click HERE

Kaio Martin, Artist

Located in front of Kings Beach Mini Golf at 8693 North Lake Blvd, Kings Beach,

Public Art

Art Exhibited in a Public Space

Any art exhibited in a public space including publicly accessible buildings is Public Art.  It involves site specificity and the community within which it is placed.  The relationship between the content and the audience, what the art is saying, is as important as its physical location. In recent years, public art has increasingly begun to expand in scope and application engaging the community where it is placed. 

A couple years ago when I was asked to sit on a committee which would work to bring Public Art to Tahoe, I gladly accepted.  I believe in Public Art and what it can do for a community to create a sense of place, how it can enhance the visual appeal of a community, and how it can bring a community together.  

The first exhibition of Public Art in Kings Beach, one of the communities under the umbrella of Tahoe Public Art, Tahoe Public Art is a temporary, site specific installation, named DETOURS.  Designed as a self guided walking tour, Detours will feature eleven very different works of art in a variety of mediums.  Take away maps will be scattered throughout the community.  Eleven artists have been invited to create and display a work of art inspired by their assigned location.  I am one of the invited artists and my location is a towering pine tree adjacent to The North Tahoe Events Center.    

Pictured here are the drawings of my work which will be installed August 22nd and remain on location until September 1st.  

Inspired by the majesty, power, and clarity of Lake Tahoe, as viewed from this location and nearby lake areas, I will paint a 12' canvas which will then be striped and applied around the tree creating a skirt of sorts.  When the air is calm the strips will hang vertically, hugging the trunk of the tree.  The ability of the canvas pieces to 'ribbon' in the wind is inspired by the events and celebrations held on the patio at the North Tahoe Event Center.

During the next month I will be creating the painting and will take you through the steps, so check back to see how this painting comes to life.

To contact me click HERE

To visit my web site click HERE

How Long Does It Take To Paint A Painting?

Yes, I have talked about this before...

Kayaking Into The Rocks

48x30

2000.00

However I have run into an interesting situation, one that has helped me understand something you might see in a museum or art gallery.  And what has just happened in my studio may help you understand this as well.

So, how long does it take to paint a painting?  Artists are asked this over and over again.   I truly believe it has taken a life time of doing what ever one has done before to get to the point of creating what ever it is that was just created.  That explanation is not always readily accepted though it is true.  But what about those paintings that sit in the studio, unfinished.  Or what about the painting that was completed and then worked on again some time later.

This is exactly what just happened to me.  I completed a painting several years ago, about ten years ago.  It has been exhibited and just recently returned to my studio.  During those ten years, between the completion of the painting and its return, my work has changed, evolved, moved in new directions.  I see the world and my inspiration differently.  I portray my inspiration a bit differently than I did ten years ago.  So when this painting came back into my studio I felt compelled to work on it again knowing I could ruin it and knowing I could improve it.  I had never done this before because I think that once something is done, it is done, leave it alone.    Oh boy.....brush in hand, I tackled the work, changing what had been there, working to improve the painting.

So what is it we see in museums and galleries that I refer to at the beginning of this post?  It is information given about the artist and the work.  The date a work was created is typically on the descriptive tag next to a painting, and sometimes that date spans several years.  I have always wondered about this.  Why so many years?  Well, now I have one answer to this question and now this particular painting will have the date listed as 2003-2013.  And I guess if I am asked how long it took to create this painting my answer may be: ten years.

To Contact Me Click Here

To Visit My Web Site Click HERE

Artist's Statement

If you are an Artist,

You are frequently asked for an Artist's Statement.

Not only can you be asked for a statement about your work in general, but for a statement about a group of work or an individual work.  The other day I was asked to describe my work in one word.  I chose BOLD.  That seems to sum up my composition. 

The Big Split

48x36

3500.

Currently Exhibited at Vista Gallery in Kings Beach, CA

I might have chosen DRAMATIC.

Golden Boulders

48x60

6000.

Currently Exhibited at Village Interiors, Incline Village, NV

I thought about STYLIZED.  And CONTEMPORARY entered my mind.

Serenity

16x20

650.

Currently Exhibited at Vista Gallery, Kings Beach, CA

Or even COLORFUL.

Three Birds

36x36

3500.

But in the end I settled on BOLD, as a one word description. Taking it a little further my description becomes:  

Bold, colorful, representational paintings presented with contemporary stylization.  

The process of distilling a description of your work into one word helps with the process of creating a succinct, understandable description.  Give it a try.

To contact me click HERE

To visit my web site click HERE

Mural Painting

Giving Time to Help Another Painter

Even though I have a canvas on my easel, I took a few hours today to help a fellow artist work on her mural at Kings Beach Elementary School.  The design is based on a Shel Silverstein poem which deals with seeing things from a different point of view, hence the school bus in the clouds and the upside down tree.  There is more work to be done, children to be added, details here and there, but you get the idea.  I worked on the clouds and the tree greenery....such fun!

Some of the students have had the opportunity to be involved with the project giving them a sense of ownership and exposure to art.  That's a darn good thing since so many art programs have been removed from our schools.  And the whole idea of seeing your world from a different perspective is a inspiring thought for young children.  This is why I was very happy to give some time to this project.