Kirby Crone’s childhood home in Texas had a hobby room. “There are pictures of me and my sister with a painter’s apron. My parents took us to museums all the time. Did my parents think art was something I’d glom onto? Probably not.” Kirby laughs.
There was a point in High School when one of Kirby’s friends suggested art as a form of therapy. “I taught myself,” says Kirby, “it reached a point when I realized that there wasn’t a choice in me making art. I have to. It balances me.”
Similar to Frederic Church’s Olana, Kirby Crone’s Hudson studio sits on a hill, overlooking the Catskill mountains.
In 2012, Kirby started working with her current boss, artist Jeffrey Gibson, in Brooklyn. When he moved upstate to teach at Bard, Kirby went south to Georgia and received her MFA in Painting at Savannah College of Art and Design. After graduating, Kirby decided to follow her boss upstate and moved to Hudson in 2015. Explains Kirby, “He asked me, ‘Are you sure you want to move to this small town in upstate New York?’ I was like, Yeah! It’s great! There seems to be a lot of art and culture.”
The Upcoming Show
“I met Edsel [Edsel Williams of the Fireplace Project], and he looked at my piece and wanted it for a show to start the summer. He asked me, ‘What’s that?’ I told him, it’s a painting I’m thinking about and I want to do it, and it’s in the back of my mind. And he said to me, ‘Try to get it done.'” Kirby laughs. Half of the audio recording of this interview is Kirby laughing.
“I had this blockage. This piece has been in my head. I figured it’s only seven feet by four and a half feet, and I painted my hallway in a month. I could get this done in time.”
And she did.
The show’s opening is on June 21st during the Pride Parade, from 2-4pm. Watch the parade from the Fireplace Project at 435 Warren Street.
Amazing ! Kirby has the best laugh and great talent !