Kris Ibach — Painting / Murals

Student works with Kris Ibach on mural

Kris Ibach guides during mural in progress

Kris Ibach is an oil painter with a strong background in printmaking, photography, and art history. She received her degree in art from the University of Oregon and exhibits in galleries in Oregon, most recently at Vistra in Eugene. She is a figurative painter whose approach to painting relies on intuition, experimentation, and willingness to revise images at any point during a painting. While working with a sketch or a plan is important, the flexibility to allow images to evolve throughout a piece is equally important.
Kris says, "My motivation for painting comes from a combination of visual sensitivity and an interest in nuance and mood. I am inspired by anything visual- from fleeting glimpses of human interaction, to tiny scraps of paper in the street, dream imagery, and to textures and patterns of any kind.
Students learn drawing and composition and colors effect and blending through painting. During her mural residency with students she often chooses to highlight (through size and value) a few key figures in the composition and then proceed to design and create an environment that suggests time, place, and experience. Murals may be temporary on paper or permanent on panels and may be installed. While viewing the murals, one viewer may see a cup and saucer on a table; another viewer will see perhaps a clock or maybe a platter with various items on it.