Karla Reid
— Karla reid—
Karla Reid’s unique color-saturated style comes from intense study, discipline, and inspiration. She has been described as prolific, as her appetite for creating seems endless. Karla’s pieces have evolved over the years into a more complex body of work, doing mixed media collage art that border on three-dimensional. Her pieces include pastels and other media such as fabric, decorative papers, acrylic paint, and other found objects. The figures in Karla Reid’s works are larger than life and evoke the feeling of familiarity with the viewer. She seems to have tapped into the human emotions that everyone might feel at some point in life. Karla’s art may remind you of someone you may have seen or know in your everyday life. The people in Karla Reid’s painting are not actual people however she has occasionally been commissioned to do portraits. Karla Reid has the unique ability to paint emotions, when she is working on a piece her emotions come across through whatever medium sheis using. Born and raised in Macon, Georgia, Karla was the only daughter in a family of three sons. Karla’s parents were grade school and high school teachers who taught her the importance of learning and discipline. She would spend a lot of time in her room drawing and painting as a child. In high school art classes, instructors encouraged Karla to pursue more intense study through college. Karla went on to study art at Macon Junior College and then the University of Georgia. Karla Reid has been showing her work since 1992. Her works can be found in the homes and businesses of some of the most noted art patrons in the country. In 2022, she made her West Coast debut with Thelma Harris Art Gallery in Oakland, California.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“I am inspired by color and materials as well as my thoughts and feelings about the people I meet and places I go. Color is energy to me. When I go into an art store, I see the colors and the textures of all those art materials and go crazy, I can’t wait to get into the studio. God has given me a tremendous gift, which I am immensely grateful. Creating something so beautiful out of my own imagination is very gratifying and gives me a wonderful sense of being alive. Art is like breathing for me, I can’t live without it. I am always looking forward to the next piece.”
