The artist in her previous Manhattan Kansas studio, 2023.
Working primarily in soft pastel, Kira Ru-djen (b Nashville 1989) creates vibrant pieces ranging from expressive landscapes to intimate portraits to cheeky skeleton works (“skelebuddies”). Their ambidextrous approach gives the audience a window to her way of thinking, and her work has been described as a colorful sidestep from realism.
Her work has been featured in galleries in the Midwest and published in both online and print magazines out of Detroit and New Jersey.
Currently based in Pennsylvania.
Artists Bulletin
This summer I was approached by the founder of How to Pastel, Gail Sibley (a fellow Pastel Society of America member). How to Pastel is an amazing online platform filled with writings, courses, tips, tricks, thoughtfulness, expansion, and reverence for all things soft pastel.
They asked me to write about my work with figures and specifically, skeletons. I opened up my process and spoke about how I start and balance improvisation, intuition, and reading the image. If you’re a fellow artist and are curious about how my work unfolds, please do give it a read.
At the end of January this year, I received the news that I had been elected as a new Associate Member of the Pastel Society of America. This great honor was many years in the making and I’m extremely proud of the work I’ve done to achieve it.
You can read more about the news by clicking here.
The PSA is a non profit dedicated to promoting and advancing the art of pastel painting. It’s both a hub for pastel artists and an incredible community hosting events and exhibitions and shows and classes - all with the goal of furthering the pastel medium and its artists legacies.
In 2024 I was interviewed by the Muse Memorandum Project, it was an in depth conversation with JJ of Reine de Blanc. I had a lovely time, and you can read the interview in full here.
In July 2024 I was selected as the winner of the first inaugural Plein Air on Poyntz event. Competitors had less than 4 hours to create a piece inspired by an area in downtown Manhattan Kansas.
My piece focused on the things that say “American Downtown” to me - streetlamps, awnings, beautiful flower baskets and string lights.
After being placed as a finalist among four other artists, my piece was chosen as the winner.
The Mercury covered the event in their Saturday edition, and I shared briefly about my experience. You can access that article by clicking here.
Are you on IG?
I post behind the scenes and processes of my artwork on Instagram stories,
and often you can reach me faster through a DM. Recent posts below!
