Meet Kelynn Z. Alder | Artist/Curator and Vice President of Latino Arts of Long Island

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kelynn Z. Alder and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kelynn Z., what role has risk played in your life or career?
It’s interesting to consider the concept of “risk” and “risk taking.”

Risk is defined as “a situation involving exposure to danger, harm or loss.” But it also implies you have a choice to weigh your odds against failure or success for your chosen path.

I don’t really approach my life or work that way.

I am not that calculating. I’ve just always followed my inherent instincts and convictions, even when they were not fashionable or financially advantageous.

For example, when I moved back to New York, from Australia some thirty years ago, and began to delve into and express more of my Mexican ancestry in my work, I was met with a lot of push back from gallery directors. Back then, living Latino artists were hardly represented in New York City’s major museums, and I encountered even less appreciation or understanding of Latin American themed subject matter out on Long Island where I lived and had my studio.

I’d been fortunate to exhibit and sell much of my Australian body of work in Manhattan galleries, but when I began introducing work I was doing in and about Mexico, I was advised to stick to my Australian and Coney Island subject matter — as those series were deemed more relatable and likely to sell to a U.S. audience. Okay, Coney Island, being in Brooklyn, I get, but considering Australia is on the other side of the globe as opposed to the United States and Mexico sharing a common landmass… I found that advice ironic, absurd and even denigrating.

When I persisted with my Mexican-American themed work, I was for a time labeled an “ethnic artist,” whatever that means.

As I tell my students at the School of Visual Arts, sometimes it will be the negative comments, more than the praise you may receive, that will be the stronger motivator in your life and career.

And I am stubborn and perhaps a little foolhardy. But because I have faith in and am committed to following what is true to my heart there never really was a “risk-taking” choice for me to make.

Three decades later, I continue to exhibit and actually sell work that explores my Mexican American ancestry and culture. And as a founding member of Latino Arts of Long Island, I’ve had the privilege to shine light on the work of other Latinx artists who may have felt isolated and unseen. In April 2024, I received an Engaging Communities award from the Museum Association of New York for guest curating the exhibition SOMOS/WE ARE for the Long Island Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian. The exhibition featured 82 talented Latinx artists from Brooklyn all the way to Montauk. My goal for SOMOS/WE ARE was to illuminate the magnitude of Latinx talent across Long Island.

I guess that is sort of success story, but “success” is another word I see too much of — that describes too little. In truth there is still much more work to be done to garner greater awareness, appreciation and celebration of Latinx arts and culture, not only in my work, but in the work of Latinx artists across our country.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

Straight out of school, I approached my artistic practice more as a journalist and documentarian—to record impartially what I saw through sketching and painting. Aside from commissioned portraits for editorials such as The New Yorker, I set out on self-initiated projects to portray Balthus Island Aboriginals hunting, tribal wars in Papua New Guinea, boardwalk scenes in Coney Island and the disappearing culture of the Lacandon Maya in Chiapas, Mexico.

Today I feel my role as an artist is not solely to document human events I am witness to. As a contemporary Latinx artist, as well as daughter and granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, my responsibility through my work is to speak out against social injustices inflicted upon Latinx communities, and ultimately through my image making, to proudly share our rich cultural heritage through the echoing voices of our ancestors.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’ve lived many places and they say you can have love affairs with different cities, but only one city will endure as your true love. My true love is definitely New York City! The favorite class I teach at the School of Visual Arts is our NYC On Location Drawing class. I can list just a few of my favorite places to draw with my students: The Zoo and Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, The High Line, Little Island, Grand Central Station, The Moynihan Train Station, The Cloisters, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Coney Island (introduced to me by my On Location Drawing teacher, Carl Titolo many years ago), Chinatown, Madison Square Park, Washington Square, Union Square, The Schomburg Center in Harlem, Rockefeller Center and Saint Patrick’sCathedral. And then the museums… El Museo del Barrio, Hispanic Society Museum, The Whitney Museum, Museum of Natural History, MOMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Folk Art Museum, The National Museum of the American Indian…. There’s so much to choose from in this amazing city!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

My Mentor/Teacher/Friend was the late and much loved, Marshall Arisman. He was a baritone voiced story-teller with a wicked sense of humor and a phenomenal artist to boot.

Based on my portfolio, Marshall awarded me a scholarship for the MFA program for “Illustration as Visual Essayism” at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. This program changed my, and many other young artists lives. It encouraged us not to be just a pair of factory hands that produced stock-like images for publications, but to dig deeper and get our hearts involved — and to also go out and seek our own stories. Marshall’s artistic approach blurred the lines between illustration and fine art. As students we were also expected to develop our writing skills along with our image making.

Marshall had enough belief in me to give me his blessings when I approached him about using a month of class time to go off to Peru to work on my thesis project. That kind of faith only made me work harder. He helped me hang my first solo NYC exhibition, hired me to teach, laughed at my practical jokes and enlightened me to engage more spiritually with my work. I miss him very much.

Website: kelynnalder.com

Instagram: @kelynnalder

Linkedin: kelynn alder

Facebook: kelynn alder

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk-xTixns4E

Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zplGajTTBE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTaGZ1CZvd0

Image Credits
I can provide the titles of the paintings. Otherwise I am the author of all the uploaded work.