Blue Skies Drive only spanned six years of my life. Those years were the shaping of my youth, and set the course for my adulthood direction. It is the house I see in my dreams when they are warning me of that which I must pay special attention to. I have such reverence for this home. It is when my family was all together, yet I still felt as though I didn’t belong. It’s all I wanted to get to back to when I was sent floating through the universe when the home broke apart, wondering if I’ll ever land on solid ground. One thing always remains steady, the skies are so pretty.

In this collection I explore the pain of nostalgia and growing up and leaving behind a world where we thought all was perfect. The cow field we played in as children is now paved over, condos and shopping centers and big box stores have taken it’s place. In this collection I explore our relationship to self and the land we grow up on. Our relationship to expansion, urban sprawl and our society’s religious devotion to capitalism at the expense of community and family and true connections. My paintings are snapshots in time accompanied by writings that encourage a viewer to ponder their own relationship with our space, family and home.

Kristine Toward is an illustrator, designer and dabbler in poetic musings. Her passions for botanicals and portraiture compliment her desire to explore human experience through her inner and outer worlds. She currently resides in the high desert wonderland of Reno, NV. This has been an inspiring place for someone with a fascination of the desert, the cool misty forests and shimmering waters of alpine lakes. Being a part of this world between worlds has offered her a beneficial environment to fuel her botanical passions and influence her artistic craft. As a lifelong creative, she is all about soaking in the details, a trait she pours into her designs & illustrations.

For information about the exhibit and the artist, please contact the curator, Maria Partridge • maria@sierra-arts.org