MEET KYRA
The Basics
Kyra Hinton is a visual artist and writer based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia. Working with a myriad of mediums, Kyra hopes to invoke wonder in the places we call home, and the joy of being human in those spaces.
During the pandemic Kyra created a collaborative artistic challenge called Pass the Piece, which has continued to evolve and serve artist communities internationally. She also facilitates and creates content for the online visual artist community artists&, and is co-host for the accompanying podcast: The Artists & Podcast.
In 2023 Kyra wrote two novels which are various stages of publication. She writes of the human experience, healing, and the magic sewn through the everyday.
A special edition of her debut A Mist Sprite’s Study of Being Human is available now on Kickstarter.
A RETURN TO WRITING
Kyra returned to her original artistic form in 2023, and has now completed two novels that are being prepared for publishing. To be updated on publication and follow the journey, sign up for her author newsletter below.
ART Mediums
One of Kyra’s early art mediums was an ink technique she developed, which builds dimensional worlds in puddles of chemically-reactive ink on paper or clay. Her ink work speaks to transience and permanence, and of the impact of a moment on a lifetime.
This ink medium Kyra discovered in 2016 pushed her into the world as a career artist. The medium is challenging, scientific, and transient. She says this about the role she plays in the process:
“Some days I feel like an explorer, searching through the newest satellite photograph or topography map for inspiration. Other days I’m a mad scientist, tinkering away late into the night using chemically-reactant inks in a puddle on a piece of paper. And some days I'm sitting at the bedside of one of my artworks decaying before my eyes -- less than an hour into it's creation. This medium has taught me about exhilaration and grief. It’s taught me to pay attention to the beauty in every moment, to let go and enjoy the process.”
Because this process can be mentally and emotionally taxing, Kyra now works mostly in other mediums like acrylics, inks, and digital mediums:
“I found that I often speak the same language no matter the medium. I go out to explore and discover, but the things I return with echo the same themes, patterns, motion. My art is my heart, my perspective, and my eye for the world. No matter how far I go, that's what I will always find.”
A new way to experience Kyra’s ink art
In 2022 Kyra returned to inks by creating a way to “bottle” the magical moments they created for her customers to experience again and again. These are a study of how nostalgia can be boiled down to color and movement.
