Kim Parker
"How can I express in words what I feel for flowers and for painting them? I take not a single leaf for granted when I paint, and by that I mean, that every flower face is a real soul to me, looking straight out or in profile. My mission is to create a loving, garden community. I adore the process of gardening with my brushes and paints. My palette is my smorgasbord for an insatiable desire for playing with color."
"I love to walk the city streets, and snap photos of wild flowers growing in the most unlikely of places. It touches me deeply to see these bold and delicate urban survivors, vulnerably exposed to bus fumes and potentially disrespectful passersby. I never use photo references when I paint, although I like taking pictures of flowers simply because there is no end to my attraction to them. For me, much of the joy in painting flowers, is in the pure invention of them, through memory, not direct reference. I don’t wish to be tied into, or to create anything too literal, visually. The freedom of interpreting, the freedom of self expression, is what keeps the process fresh. Walking away from a garden, a park, or even some small seemingly insignificant pot of flowers, leaves it’s mark. The beauty of that relationship is in the silent impact, which can stay for days within, before finding it’s way onto a canvas or a textile design. What I love about my greatest inspiration, German Expressionist painter, Emil Nolde’s floral water colors, is his loose and unabashedly succulent interpretation of flowers. His floral paintings almost scream with sensuality and pleasure. That is how I feel when I paint my gardens."
-Kim Parker July 2005
Kim Parker is an internationally renowned textile designer. Winner of two British design awards in 2004: The ELLE DECORATION U.K. Award and the D&D (Design & Decoration) Award for best flooring in the U.K. with her best-selling designer rug "Mums & Asters", Parker's first collection for the world-renowned retailer, The Rug Company.
The KIM PARKER HOME® brand was launched in 2001, and includes a high-end product line of bedding, bath, rugs, fabrics, pillows, stationery and Fine Art posters and giclees on canvas. Kim Parker bedding and bath is licensed by CHF Industries, and is available at Bloomingdales and other retailers in the U.S. Her rug collection is represented by The Rug Company, England's premier rug retailer, and is sold in New York & London. In publishing, Parker has licensing agreements with Galison for her stationery collections; with Editions Limited, for a collection of Fine Art posters and giclees on canvas; and her first illustrated children's book Counting in the Garden was published April 2005 by Scholastic, Inc.
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