Bring the Outdoors In

Existing at the intersection of nature and science, my art is a visual meditation exploring the intricate tapestry of our backyard ecology.

Bring these quiet reflections into your daily life with original paintings and reproductions.

Available Works

Learn About New Works

Let your curiosity guide you.

You’ll find paintings, weavings and immersive installations throughout my studio practice. Formed with scientific data and cast off materials, bird enthusiasts will enjoy the Junk Mail Migration series of paintings. For plant friends, the Backyard Botanical series is a great starting point for your explorations in the struggle between weeds and wildflowers. Find your way to the studio journal to get a more in depth look in the creation of the works.

Iowa | You are invited to join me for mending each month at the Octagon Center for the Arts, Quarterly Open Studios (sign up for local event updates), and visit my main street shop Little Woods Herbal when you need a quick art gift (& tea). I’ll see you soon!

Online | Dig into the pattern archive over on my craft blog, Craft Leftovers. Using up leftovers is another chapter in the story of resourceful making and using what’s on hand.

About Me: Kristin M Roach

Born and raised in Moline, Illinois I attended Northern Illinois University. It was during my oil painting studies that I first was introduced to textiles as an art form. Quickly adopted into the Fibers program, I earned my degree in painting with all my electives taken up by weaving classes. I hold a minor in art history, attesting to my strong love of research, lifelong learning, and the past informing the present studio practice.

Balancing between art and craft is a continued thread in the material and methods of my work. Learning to paint from my dad while sewing with my grandma. Working at the local yarn shop while attending university for oil painting. Getting a commission to paint an 80 foot mural while simultaneously working on my book Mend it Better with Storey publishing.

These two creative impulses now hold place together in my studio. Or maybe that I’ve realized that they were all along and it was only in my mind that they were separate. Weaving as painting, crochet as sculpture. And under it all, the deep love and curiosity around nature, our bodies, and how they hold space together in this complex place that is our home.

If you are in Ames, I’d like to invite you to stop by my main street apothecary tea bar & spice shop. You’ll find original paintings on the walls and prints, zines, and & greeting cards for sale. You might even find me behind the tea bar serving up my unique herbalism inspired blend to the masses.