Today we’d like to introduce you to Kemare Garner
Hi Kemare, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi all! My name is Kemare but I go by Ke. I am an artist and a jewelry designer. Art and designing has always been a passion of mine from as early as I can remember. I started at a very young age and was fortunate to have a family and community that supported my vision. My dad was an artist himself and my parents loved jewelry! It was never hard to ask for their support, my parents always made sure I had every material or words of encouragement I needed throughout my career. When my mom passed in 2019, I decided to take art more seriously and promoting it on social media. It was nerve wracking at first but the amount of positive feedback kept me going. In 2021, I created a small online jewelry boutique named Sanative Boutique dedicated to mom and her love for crystals and jewelry.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I believe that nothing comes easy in life! You have to decide what is and isn’t worth the fight and for me, art and jewelry was worth it. I had many challenges along the road. At 12, I dislocated my right shoulder and was in a shoulder sling for months. Throughout that period of time, it was so hard to do anything! I could hardly write, I wasn’t able to draw, I had to rely on help from others to do basic every day activities and was frequently going to physical therapy just to try to speed up the process. I was so discouraged from the injury that I stopped drawing until I started college.
In college, I experienced imposter syndrome and dealt with a decline in my mental health. I changed my degree from business to art and at some point I started to resent art. Each and every art class I went to, I felt like my particular style of art never followed the norms or was welcomed. You’re meeting other students who could paint like Leonardo Davinci meanwhile my art looked like something a cat dragged in out of desperation. How can I call myself an artist and I’m receiving Ds or Cs on my projects. It was devastating! That was the second time I walked away and focused strictly on business.
In 2019, I transferred schools and my degree at the time was business. Surprisingly at this point, the art classes that I did take, I was now earning As and Bs. Things were finally starting to feel like they were turning around! When my mom passed away, I abruptly dropped out of school to focus on helping my family financially until we got back on our feet.
When I did eventually find my way back to art, I had to adjust to some of the changes going on within the art community. Digital was more in demand and it forced artist like me to learn how to pick up an extra art skill quickly. A lot of people at the time, I thought had my purest intentions and unfortunately they didn’t. I would find myself in situations where people didn’t want to pay me for my art, criticize my art or even worse, only try to get to know me for all of the wrong reasons to see what and how far I was willing to go to be more well known within the art community. I walked away from every connection I knew at the time because I knew eventually I would meet the creatives who had my best interests at heart when the time was right. It was a challenge but I do believe every challenge made my character and passion stronger! Now I can happily say, I’m surrounded around so many loving and supportive creatives.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I specialize in many mediums! My strongest would be acrylic, however I also use colored pencils, markers and draw digitally. I’d like to think I’m known for my faceless women and my bold use of colors and body imagery. I believe what sets me apart from the other is that my art is almost like surrealism but with its own touch. I can’t exactly explain it but you would have to see for yourself. Although, my muses are the same, I do have a love for painting objects and sketching faces. Contradicting, right? I guess it just all depends on what inspires me and that’s what I’m proud of the most. I don’t limit myself and I’m as versatile as I desire to be!
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
My child hood was a little tough. My parents divorced when I was really young and I experienced a really traumatic situation all around the same time. Despite all of the bad events, I have always been a bubbly and loving soul. A child who feels and think deeply of the world, I always cared to uplift and support others. I was artistic, outspoken, and very mature for my age.
Pricing:
- Art commissions – TBD
- Waist beads -$20.00 – 60.00
- Art Prints -$25-30.00
- Crystal jewelry – TBD
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ke.garner?igsh=MXNqZm15bzU5enFyZQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/sanativeboutique/profilecard/?igsh=ejU1bHRwYXFhaHY2
