Statement

I make art because that is the only way life makes sense to me. A recurrent theme in my work is the face: semi-abstract, colorful and emotional. I don't choose to draw these faces, their forms just come to me. They jump off the page and stare at you. Dare to stare back. I'm a mixed media artist working in collage, drawing, painting, mask making, doll making, and wearable art. I am also a dancer, poet and videographer. I have tried to choose between media. I cannot. I feel fully engaged and alive when I'm creating. I'm a maker of images more than a storyteller. My work is about being a woman and an outsider; it is been described as both playful and haunting.


Biography

Donna Kuhn is a visual artist, poet, dancer/choreographer and videographer. Her visual art includes drawing, painting, maskmaking, dollmaking, wearable art, jewelry and collage. She often works with copied and digitally altered images including her own poetry. She also enjoys monoprinting and creating artists books. Her work has been exhibited at the Mill Gallery in Petaluma (as part of an "art therapy as art" exhibit), at the Santa Cruz County Office of Education (through which she taught art to seniors), at Crafters by the Sea in Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor, at the first Santa Cruz Mask Festival, and as part of the Walnut Avenue Womens Center Annual Art and Poetry Exhibit. Her illustrations have been published in Porter Gulch Review and Women's Voices. Her work is also transformed into greeting cards, magnets, and painted rocks. Her poetry has been widely published in over fifty journals and anthologies. Along with her husband, Rick Kuhn, and their two children, she creates multimedia videos. Their videos incorporate dance, monologue, poetry and collage/found sound music. Their videos have been shown on public access TV Channel 19 in Tennessee and their music has been heard on radion station KKUP in Cupertino.