Kincaid Pearson

Kincaid works primarily in fibers, wood, paint and other various materials. He joined RWS in September 2020.

Kincaid describes his work as “busy minimalism”. Recently he’s been very interested in repetition in the form of line. Line work isn’t new for Kincaid; when he first got into art he was into heavy line work and creating expansive patterns. He would spin the paper around while he worked so that he could see something different from every angle. He referred to this practice as “cloud watching” because everyone sees something a little different. Now he has abstracted this idea even more and moved into just color and line with a stronger design focus. It’s not optical illusion art, but the overlay of wave pattern on a solid background creates a kind of visual vibration. This motif of lines go through everything he’s working on.

Line work is a meditative process for Kincaid, more or less in his paintings than in furniture and rugs or other textile arts, “There’s something nice about the repetitive motion of laying down lines on a surface that has always drawn me in. I’ve always liked repetitive things.” One of Kincaid’s favorite tools is a liner paint brush, a brush whose bristles come to a long thin point that he uses to do all of his line work. His tufting gun that he uses to make rugs is another favorite.

Originally, Kincaid knew he wanted to do textile and fashion design at MECA because he thought he wanted to make clothes. Then the summer going into junior year he was in South Carolina and went into a Gucci store and started talking to one of the sales people. She was so informative on the process behind the embroideries and designs that he realized it is the textile aspect of fashion that inspires him.

Then, in his senior year of college he was grabbed by furniture making. This past year he has been working collaboratively with Naomi Russo, another MECA alum and wood worker, to expand this line of work. (They were both finalists for the Wilson Art Laminate furniture contest for their chair designs and got to attend the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in NYC their senior year.) Their collaborations include a mirror with wood frame and tufted fabric, called "Rote Mirror" (pictured above). The mirror project is more straightforward, as everyone looks into mirrors, but they wanted it to be more of an experience. They used three different circle mirrors, to break up the body and make you stay longer, with two strips of tufted fabric that invites the viewer to touch the piece for a more tactile experience.

They have big ideas to make other furniture and are currently at work on a floating console table with a built-in granite dish. “We’ve been really interested in the idea of a directed performance with furniture.” For the console table, a soft cherry wood draws your eye to the darker granite dish and makes you want to put things in it, namely keys. Kincaid has always been interested in building spaces with his work that are full and cohesive. He slowly builds these spaces with a rug and a mirror and a console. Kincaid also works part time for an interior designer, which allows him to get into more of that building of spaces realm. These spaces are an opportunity for Kincaid to work in all of the mediums he loves.

It may not be obvious in his work, but Kincaid is inspired by little things that pop up here and there in nature during his day-to-day. He grew up in a small town in rural New Hampshire (think covered bridges and skiing in winter), and there were certain spaces that provided that inspiration like a favorite park bench, “I would have these little pockets I would go to and sit and think about art or sketch and draw.” That space is now his studio at RWS. He hopes other people experience a similar joy or curiosity while looking at his finished products.

View Kincaid’s work and some of his collaborations with Naomi Russo on display at North Optical, a boutique glasses store on Washington Ave. in Portland. Contact him via email at kincaidpearsondesigns@gmail.com, through his website, kincaidpearson.com or through Instagram, @kincaiddesigns.