About

Kristin Underhill
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“There either is or is not, that’s the way things are. The colour of the day. The way it felt to be a child. The saltwater on your sunburnt legs. Sometimes the water is yellow, sometimes it’s red. But what colour it may be in memory, depends on the day. I’m not going to tell you the story the way it happened. I’m going to tell it the way I remember it.”
– Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in the Upper Peninsula, my artwork draws from my surroundings, be it the Great Lakes, my family and friends or found objects that I come across on my travels. When researching for the theatre, I draw upon the familiar; a diner in my hometown, cave mud I’ve crawled through or the water that laps at my toes. All of my work has some sort of personalized touch and without that, it wouldn’t be mine.
The creation of objects and art through stories has always been important in my life. Family history is traditionally passed from generation to generation by storytelling; my art process is an elaboration of this.
I'm a storyteller and whether I tell stories through my art, my custom made toys or my theatrical projects, they’re all stories. Come visit my website and share my stories!
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Education
1991 - 1995 BA Hope College - Technical Theatre
2003 - 2015 additional major - Art History
Charge Painter
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2003 - Present - Backdrop Painter - Strike Time Dance Company - Hope College
2016 - Leaving Iowa - Holland Civic Theatre
2015 - A Piece of My Heart - USS Silversides Museum
2014 - The Diviners - West Ottawa H.S
2013 - A Piece of My Heart - Red Barn Theatre
2013 - The Pajama Game - West Ottawa H.S
2013 - The Man who Came to Dinner - West Ottawa H. S
2011 - Working - Holland Civic Theatre
2009 - Love, Sex and the IRS - Holland Civic Theatre
2009 - The Spitfire Grill - Holland Civic Theatre
2008 - Wait Until Dark - Holland Civic Theatre
2006 - Little Shop of Horrors - Holland Civic Theatre
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Exhibitions
2023 - North of the 45th - Devos Art Museum
2019 - WIshes to the Wind - Purdue University
2013 - Clusterf*ck - Crafthouse Gallery
2012 - Annual Juried Show - Muskegon Museum of Art
2012 - Juried Christmas Invitational - Fire Barn Gallery
2010 - Grand Haven ArtWalk - Fire Barn Gallery
2007 - disciplined / undisciplined - Holland Area Arts Council
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