TMW: Have you focused on a particular art medium during your time at Macalester? KR: I’ve changed my mind a lot, but I’ve finally found direction in printmaking. I’m mostly working with screenprinting.

Which media did you begin with? My first year course was Painting I, but it wasn’t for me, so I got really into drawing and photography.

And why did you decide to focus on printmaking? I find it a lot more useful, and it’s reproducible, so you can make a lot more items that are useable, I think.

What do you most enjoy about making art? It’s kind of a getaway. I find it really satisfying, to be honest, like when you do something that just works, and it seems like it’s right to you, even if it’s not right to the other people looking at it. It’s really satisfying.

Did you always know you wanted to be an art major? No, I came to Macalester thinking I would be a psych major. But I’ve always been very artistic, and I knew that was something that was a passion of mine that I wanted to keep intact, but I’m glad I’m a major instead.

Do you have a double major or any minors? I don’t. I’ve changed my mind so many times that I figured I’d stick with one.

How did you first get interested in art? My family. I have a bunch of artists in my family, so we were always doing crafts and stuff like that. I went through a bunch of intensive phases, like, made shoes for a while, made dresses. I did a lot on fashion illustration and then I got into comics and then photography. Just a bunch of different phases of my life.

How are you involved in art at Macalester or off campus? I’ve done a couple of photo things off-campus. Friends of mine, or people outside of Macalester who have contacted me who want a collection of their photographs or band photos: I’ve done a lot of that. I’ve worked in a gallery for a long time. I stuck with them for a while just helping with their openings and sort of inventory work. But I’m not that involved on campus.

Did you study abroad? Yeah, I studied abroad in Florence, Italy, and that was amazing.

What was your most, or one of your most, memorable experiences? While I was abroad? I have so many. I really loved when my parents came to visit, and we went to Venice together, and it was a fantastic day. It’s just such an incredible city. We went to the Peggy Guggenheim museum, which had these beautiful Alexander Calder metal bed frames and stuff like that. Just very funky.

Has your time in Italy influenced your art, coming back to Macalester? Definitely what I’m doing now, I’m trying to get into textile design, and I basically made that decision when I was abroad. Because when you’re around the Italian people who are just so gorgeous and, you know, they’re all dressed to perfection, effortlessly. It really sparked my interest. And I wasn’t looking at the clothing so much as the patterns on the clothes. I found myself really, really interested in patterns. I was talking a Batik class at the time, so I was applying what I saw on the streets, and just all over, in that class. And then also I was taking illustration, so that added another component: just drawing and changing my style around.

What are your interests or hobbies besides art? I really like movies. I’m a movie addict. I bike a lot. And I like to cook, that’s a new thing. I’ve been experimenting.

What are your favorite things to do in the Twin Cities? In the summer, I really like going to the lakes. And the festivals, I find the festivals really fun. The Walker always has really great stuff. I love the sculpture garden. There’s some really funky bars, and funny pub crawls and stuff like that, that’s been fun. The parks are beautiful around here.

What are your favorite museums in the Twin Cities, or even outside of Minnesota? I went to this museum in Croatia that was very cool. It’s called the Museum of Broken Relationships. I really liked that. I also really like The Phillips Collection, in D.C.. And I like the MIA [Minneapolis Institute of Art] a lot, I prefer it to the Walker. I don’t know what else. The MoMA [Museum of Modern Art].

Do you have any thoughts for your future after Macalester? Yeah, there’s an internship with a company called Design Library that I’m kind of shooting for. They’re based in New York, and it’s basically a massive warehouse full of archived prints. They sell to all sorts of different brands like J. Crew, Ann Taylor, stuff like that. I feel like I need to be in the New York scene, even though I think it’s going to be really stressful.

What advice would you give to someone thinking about majoring in art? Make connections. Definitely get yourself out there. You know, I had this internship with that gallery, the Groveland Gallery it’s called, and I got really close with my boss and I would go do things outside [of work] with her. And you know, just get invited to art events that you don’t normally get connected to. It’s really important to get connected to the outside art scene. Especially because there’s such a great art scene in Minneapolis and St. Paul.