Looking Closer: A Conversation Beyond the Canvas with Kristin Divers
After publishing my recent interview with Master Pastelist Kristin Divers, I started receiving thoughtful questions—ones that suggested readers were craving more. Who inspires Kristin? What artists influence her decisions in color, composition, and subject matter? And why this painting, at this moment?
These are the kinds of questions that take us deeper—not just into an artist’s mind, but into the emotional framework of any creative work.
So, I circled back to Kristin. I asked her to reflect on the artists who have left a lasting imprint on her thinking. And I asked her to choose one painting from her upcoming exhibition to explore in more detail—not from a technical standpoint, but from an emotional one. What drew her to it? Why did this moment matter?
It’s a way of understanding not just the finished work, but the way an artist sees the world.
Two Artists, Two Compass Points
Kristin began by naming two artists who continue to guide and challenge her—each in a different direction.
Egon Schiele, the Austrian Expressionist of the early 1900s, is not someone whose style Kristin directly emulates. His work is often raw, angular, and emotionally exposed. But that’s precisely what she admires.
“His drawings and paintings are very loose and raw, edgy,” she told me. “There’s a simplicity to his shapes and colors that pulls you in.”
Schiele’s most iconic works—like Portrait of Wally Neuzil (above)—convey a kind of emotional electricity. Even when the subject is still, the feeling isn’t. Kristin recalled seeing his work in person at the Leopold Museum in Vienna, a pivotal moment that continues to echo in her studio.
“While my work doesn’t resemble his,” she said, “sometimes just thinking of his art can help me resolve a problem in my own.”
This is influence at its most honest—not imitation, but inspiration.
On the other end of the emotional spectrum is Edgar Degas, Kristin’s favorite artist and a clear touchstone in her medium of choice: pastel.
“He was an excellent draftsman; his solid drawings were the foundation for his paintings,” she said. “I admire his mark-making and his chosen color palettes.”
Degas’ pastel works are luminous, layered, and grounded in gesture. He captured the rhythm of everyday life with grace and honesty—something Kristin strives for as well. She mentioned one particular painting, The Bath (c.1890)(above), which hangs in the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh.
“I stare at this work and imagine making the choices he made,” she told me. “It always astonishes me.”
Her voice takes on quiet reverence here. These are not just paintings to admire—they’re paintings to learn from.
“Warm Together”: A Moment That Mattered
When asked to choose a favorite piece from her upcoming exhibition, Kristin was hesitant—understandably so. For many artists, the painting they’re working on is both their favorite and their biggest frustration, all at once.
“It depends on how it’s going at any given time,” she noted.
But in the end, one piece rose to the surface: Warm Together.
At first glance, it’s a simple scene—a father and daughter side by side, bathed in the warm glow of a fire. But look again. There’s something unspoken happening here. Not dramatic but deeply felt.
“I happened upon this scene, and it moved me,” she explained. “There’s an unspoken communication going on—the peaceful comfort of being near a loved one.”
Kristin was also drawn to the fire itself—not just as a source of warmth, but as a formal element to paint. It became a subtle link to her past work depicting steel mills, where heat and color played similarly dynamic roles.
“It was a nice link to my previous body of work featuring steel mills with all their heat,” she said.
And so Warm Together becomes more than a portrait. It becomes a bridge—between past and present, between subject and artist, between what is seen and what is felt.
Why Look Closer?
This kind of deep dive into a single painting isn’t just an exercise in art appreciation. It’s an invitation—to slow down, to reflect, and to ask more of ourselves as viewers.
When we understand who inspires an artist like Kristin Divers, we learn more than just art history. We begin to see how every brushstroke or pastel mark is backed by a lineage of thought, observation, and emotional risk.
Most of all, we start to recognize how the fleeting moments in our own lives—those quiet gestures, that sudden light—can hold just as much meaning as the grand scenes we think we’re supposed to notice.
Because sometimes, like a hidden nest in a hanging flower basket, the most important things are the ones we almost missed.
Kristin Divers reminds us that art doesn’t have to be loud to be powerful. Her paintings invite us into the small, quiet spaces of life—the fleeting expressions, shared glances, and quiet warmth we too often overlook. In Moments, she captures not just what we see, but what we feel when we choose to truly pay attention.
We’d love for you to experience Moments in person.
Join us for the opening reception at Mark Rengers Gallery in the FNB Exhibition Hall on Saturday, August 23, from 6–8 PM (exhibit runs through October 31st). Come see the work up close, meet the artist, and spend some time with the stillness and connection her paintings offer.
Artist Resources
Egon Schiele
Leopold Museum, Vienna (World's largest collection of Schiele's work)
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
Egon Schiele | MoMA
Features selected drawings and works on paper by Schiele in the MoMA collection.
Edgar Degas
The Carnegie Museum of Art – "The Bath" (1890)
Musée d'Orsay, Paris – Degas Collection
Collection des oeuvres | Musée d'Orsay
Kristin Divers – Artist & Background
Official Artist Website: Featuring her biography, artist statement, exhibition archive, and press mentions. Highlights include her Master Pastelist designation and international pastel awards.
Mark Rengers Gallery Artist Page: Includes exhibition updates, background on Kristin’s work, and details about her gallery representation in Sewickley, PA