Artist's Statement

The watermedia and mixed media paintings, drawings and prints of Costanza Knight are contemporary expressions that explore and celebrate the human form and the landscape.  These images often take place in gravity free worlds and portray humankind in both states of joy and pathos.

Poetry and narratives are often her inspiration.  Knight dramatically interprets them by creating a series of paintings that actually tell a story.  In a sense, they are poetic art.  As a former speech and language pathologist, she sees a direct connection between teaching communication and interpreting the human experience through her artwork.

A Floridian by birth, Knight spent her summers in Saluda, North Carolina, where she took painting lessons from her father, an artist.

Her first realization that she wanted to formalize her interest in art came when she was attending university in Florence, Italy.  She took a figure drawing class and fell in love with the process of breathing life into her drawings.    She studied art there and at the University of North Carolina in Asheville.   Tucker Cooke of UNC Asheville especially influenced her work with his insistence on anatomical mastery. Continued study of body casting has helped further this knowledge.   Of late, she has found special delight in the monotype.

Knight lives in Hendersonville, North Carolina, with her husband Richard. Jordan, 29, a physicist, and Ariel, 27, an artist and restaurateur, are her children and her beloved biological works of art.  She is currently working and teaching out of her studio at The Arts Council of Henderson County.

-Costanza Knight