Steve Kindred the featured artist at Strathmore Library for November

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Steve Kindred is the Strathmore Municipal Library’s artist of the month for November, who has chosen to showcase a very different art style to what is often seen in the library’s gallery.

“It is a really cool art that he produces. He takes classic cars, reproduces them into a model size and then uses those models to create … pop art is how I would describe it, but he may have a different description,” said Laura Henderson, assistant director of library services. “He is definitely a very independent artist, he really likes to do things – he wants to make sure he hangs the gallery so it is curated the way he sees it curated, and very much wants the messaging to be his messaging.”

This gallery will be Kindred’s first time displaying with the library, though it is not his first time to be showcased. 

According to Kindred, he explained in a statement his work has recently begun to find homes in automotive dealerships, auto-related retail locations, and collector car clubs.

He described having spent 25 years in the automotive dealership business, with 17 of that as a general manager. 

Now, he creates 1:24 scale replicas of classic cars, mirroring his clients’ full-size models, then stages them in a sort of pop art type of imagery. 

“Steve is a very unique artist; he is currently one of the Vault’s artists and I think that is how we connected with him,” added Henderson. “When he came to meet with me, he brought more prints than any artist has ever brought to show me and they were so cool and different. It is going to be a very different gallery than what we have shown in the past.”

Henderson said when she was in discussions with Kindred regarding the display, he had mentioned his art started as a side project before becoming a much more significant part of his life. 

Though she did not give an exact date, as it has not yet been scheduled, Henderson relayed that Kindred is very interested in conducting a Meet the Artist event at the library during his tenure as the featured artist for the month. 

Some of Kindred’s work will be for sale during the duration of the gallery. Henderson did not specify whether Kindred is open to taking commissions for similar pieces from potentially interested parties.