Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Karina Vogt of Boulder, CO

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Karina Vogt. Check out our conversation below.

Good morning Karina, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What do you think is misunderstood about your business? 
I have the impression that many people, when they imagine what it is to be an artist, think that we spend our time unleashing torrents of creativity, straight out of a portal of talent, frolicking around with whimsy and splashing paint and that our work is all play.
In my experience, though I am fueled by passion and a love for art, to develop as an artist requires an incredible amount of mental focus, discipline and physical work.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello! My name is Karina Vogt and I’m primarily a painter and fine bead worker. My chosen mediums are oil, acrylic and metal leaf. I stretch most of my own canvases with linen (a very strong fiber, known for it’s archival qualities).

My paintings are often described as fantastical realism and wildlife in a metaphorical context is a frequent subject in my work.

I currently have an exhibition of my collection LUMINOUS BEASTS open at The Annex of The New Local Gallery, In Boulder, CO.
The exhibition will be up until September 30th.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
As a child I often had dreams that I could fly, so often in fact, that I truly believed that I could fly. I no longer believe that I can fly and have found instead that I have a fear of heights and many other things. Who knows though, I may one day be proven wrong in all the most wonderful ways and learn to fly in ways not constrained by physical limitations.

What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering has brought me in touch with a core element of what it is to be human and to embrace my sadness with “unbearable compassion” (In the words of Ram Dass). I have never been one to self medicate with substances and have sought comfort in nature, music, words and connection to people whom I’m close with. Suffering has led me to a place where I understand that community is crucial. I’m most comforted by the understanding that we’re all parts of a greater whole. I may not know what that whole is and don’t believe that we have have the sensory apparatus or perspective to know what we are of, but it is felt, especially in the moments when I’m most present.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
Colorados poet laureate, Andrea Gibson, who recently passed away. The days following Gibsons passing, my social media feeds were showered with the seeds of her love in the words that she left us. Their struggles led them deep into how precious and beautiful it is to experience the vulnerability of being in the human form, even in the depths of our suffering there is a love that holds us if we let ourselves be it.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What false labels are you still carrying?
All of the labels that I carry will eventually fall away and be constructs of a past that no longer exists. I love to imagine a conversation with non-human species, like a moose; if we could find a mutual language: “How do you perceive yourself in all of this?”.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://karinavogt.com
• Instagram: karina_vogt_art