E.286: Georgina Kingsley | Artist & Grower

Amy Gabay 00:00
This podcast is brought to you by People’s Food Co Op, a community owned grocery store in downtown La Crosse, Wisconsin and Rochester, Minnesota that promotes local farmers and producers through an emphasis on fresh, healthy, sustainable food. Anyone can shop, everyone is welcome. For more information, visit them online at PFC.coop. This podcast is also brought to you by Trempealeau County Tourism. Whether your idea of fun is bicycling, hiking or canoeing, afterwards head into the heart of one of their welcoming communities to experience historic architecture, independent shops and locally owned dining establishments. Visit Trempealeau County Tourism online. The Great River Shakespeare Festival is running now through July 31st. Featuring Twelfth Night and the African Company presents Richard the Third and more at Minnesota’s premier Shakespeare Festival in Winona, Minnesota. Buy tickets online at grsf.org. Great river, great drama. We talked with Georgina Kingsley an artist from Dresbach, Minnesota who also has EATT Dried Goods. She produces and sells seasonal dried herbs, mushrooms, teas and decorative goods. All locally sourced and organically grown. You can find more conversations, food reviews, live music and events on our website lacrosselocal.com. I’m Amy.

Brent Hanifl 01:23
And I’m Brent.

Amy Gabay 01:24
And this is La Crosse Local.

Georgina Kingsley 01:26
My name is Georgina Kingsley. I was born in Dorset, England. I moved to America 15 years ago. I got into painting because of my parents, ultimately. I’m a creative spirit, but my dad is an engineer and loves technical jewelry. And my mother is a pen and ink artist, illustrator, and she was also my elementary art teacher. So she had huge influences on me. Growing up, she had some mental health issues that led her to an art therapy session. As a child seeing the miraculous therapy and healing that provided for her, that really inspired me on how art can release things inside you. So I used that as a child to communicate my own issues and mental health issues. Went on to study BA in Fine Art Painting. And I suppose here I am now 20 years later still painting.

Brent Hanifl 02:30
You kind of reference your folks as being influences. Is there any artists or music that kind of influence you as well?

Georgina Kingsley 02:37
Influences from my work? Oh, definitely nature, landscape and music. When I’m painting I’m painting generally with music in the background. I’m very much into my European dance music, which might sound a little crazy for some people, but that can be quite mellow, and very meditative. I’m also a big fan of singing bowls, drums, those kinds of things. They helped me focus, help me get into a zone. In terms of artists that influenced me, Miro for sure I love the quirkiness, the expression, the out there kind of things, and I struggle putting that into my art. So I suppose I admire artists that create what I’m not quite confident enough to do to push me.

Brent Hanifl 03:32
For people who have never seen your work before, how would you how would you explain it?

Georgina Kingsley 03:36
Abstract landscape is probably the simplest term. I paint in oil paints, I use them very physically. So there’s a lot of texture, I’m really into color. So generally, they’ll only be two or three main colors within a painting and just 1000 tones coming off that one main feature color. Again, that’s just to express the emotions. And I suppose the spiritual connection behind my artwork.

Brent Hanifl 04:08
How do you work? I mean, do you work fast you work on multiple pieces? Or is it something that’s, you know, comes to you, you know, a little bit slower? What’s that process like?

Georgina Kingsley 04:18
Generally as I become more disciplined, it varies by the size of the painting. If I’m working on something very large, I know to just focus on that, maybe do a couple of layers, set it aside and go to something else. But I do really enjoy working with series type art. So I’ll get 4 to 12 pieces of canvases together that are generally smaller, and that allows me to experiment on each one but each one has some kind of connection.

Brent Hanifl 04:50
You know, I know of you basically from your painting work but you also have EATT Dried Goods, which is something I got recently introduced. It’s basically, well you’ll explain it. But anyways, it seems like there’s some sort of connection between your sort of natural painting and this EATT Dried Goods as well?

Georgina Kingsley 05:08
For sure a lot of my paintings come from while I’m walking and exploring. I have four dogs, we have some acreage with some woods we love to forage, we love to eat and supply a lifestyle from the land. So as I’m doing my gardening, as I’m picking mushrooms, as we’re hiking and chopping down trees, all of those things become my influence to my painting. Wherever it’s a moment of the sunshine shining through the trees or the sunrise over the frozen water, we can see in the distance, it’s all integrated. Both elements feed my soul and I feel like they work together as a business concept, too.

Brent Hanifl 05:51
What kind of products do you have? Do you have seasonal pieces, or is there something that you have you all year round or you know, I know there’s a lot of herbs and teas and that sort of stuff. What are some of your, you know, your main go to’s?

Georgina Kingsley 06:02
The majority of the product we dry is grown spring through to summer. So right now we’re our season is about to happen and that’s probably our top selling item. Everybody loves the morales when they’re fresh from the ground but come Christmas time they can’t believe that we still have some dehydrated ones that they can then rehydrate and enjoy. And then from that we go to nuts. We have walnuts, hickory nuts. And then in terms of actually gardening and producing then we’ll look into more culinary type herbs or things that people can use in homemade cosmetics. But in general we try to stick with native plant types when it comes to the dried items.

Brent Hanifl 06:50
So for EATT Dried Goods where can people pick that up? Do they connect with you directly, or how does that work?

Georgina Kingsley 06:56
They can connect directly. I generally use social media Facebook and Instagram to advertise the items. Obviously the items we have a limited stock, so generally we’re either preselling wholesale or people are like hey, shoot me out when you’ve got some Morales in. So I would say generally if you’re interested follow the posts see what we’ve got in stock, what’s currently drying and ready to be sold. And then we do about three to four events a year generally in the La Crosse area. So the local craft and farmers markets is another place you can find us.

Brent Hanifl 07:32
Is that also where you, you know you sell your paintings as well? Or is that, is there another avenue for people to check out to find those?

Georgina Kingsley 07:39
I’m a lot shyer and more private about my paintings. Not sure why, working on that. Started an Instagram late 2021, so I’m a little late to the game. But I have found selling on social media has been great. That’s where all of the finished artwork ready to go pieces are. There are prices on their sizes are available and will customize the shipping options depending on where you live. And then locally, I have been in a couple of exhibitions and this year I will be starting the Art Fair kind of community with the Driftless Area’s Arts Festival down in Soldiers Grove this August. So that will be my first proper launch to the public. Hey, here I am, paintings and all.

Brent Hanifl 08:31
What’s next for you either with the dry goods or your paintings, you know is there anything coming down the road that you’re excited for?

Georgina Kingsley 08:38
EATT Dried Goods is getting very exciting because we recently just purchased the land that we’ve been foraging off in the last few years. So we get to really focus on the things we want to grow, gaining access to maybe pockets of the forest we haven’t got to before because of invasive species. So that’s going to be fun. And then moving forward with my artwork. Again as I said I’m trying to expose myself a little more to the public and get myself out there, so I’m hoping to eat more, show more and tell more.

Brent Hanifl 09:17
Looks like you know EATT Dried Goods, eat with two t’s, dried goods on Facebook. So on Instagram for your paintings, what do people look up for that what’s your username?

Georgina Kingsley 09:28
it would be my initials, @gkfineartpaintings.

Amy Gabay 09:37
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