40 Years of Art Making: Meet Kristina Hagman
The gray skies open up and unleash a downpour on the morning I visit Kristina Hagman at her home in Old Town. She quickly welcomes me inside, as does Juno, her cockapoo, always by her side. As she gives me a tour, there isn’t a turn that doesn’t make me stop and take pause. Every wall provides another glimpse into her personal and artistic journey. It’s her living, breathing studio.
When Phyllis Patterson shared she had an artist friend and neighbor with an upcoming show she thought I should meet, I didn’t hesitate. Our common thread is connecting fabulous, local female entrepreneurs, and the postcard of Kristina’s work piqued my interest.
Originally from California, Kristina moved to Alexandria in 2017. She was juried into Printmakers Inc. at the Torpedo Factory. During the span of a year, she realized she wasn’t the right type of artist for Torpedo. “You have to wear multiple hats – an educator, a seller, a public relations person – you’re providing a service to the city and you have to welcome the public in. In a co-operative with 12 artists, I felt a responsibility to sell everyone’s work.”
What she finds amazing about Torpedo are the cohorts, the structure and the connected, older artists who have had a career. “They’re not just a surgeon who suddenly decides they want to paint. These are artists who have 40 years under their belt. It’s important to not lose sight of the experience older people have.” She also notes that the Printmakers Inc. turns 50 this year.
Kristina started painting as a kid. “I had severe dyslexia and academia was hard for me. My grandmother helped me get my first exhibition in Palm Springs when I was 21. My family was very supportive, as was interior designer Arthur Elrond. He fell in love with my work and championed me. I sold everything. Which set me up for a fall…there was nowhere else to go but down.”
She shares that in her early 20s she had the opportunity to work with a figure drawing group that had been around since the 1930s. “We met every week to draw the figure. I met lots of models…some said I went from Georgia O’Keeffe that represented the anatomical to the truly anatomical. There was a running joke: ‘Watch out if you hang out at Kristina’s house, you’re going to be in a painting.’” She continues, laughing, “Once I had a gas man who was standing in for the guy who usually comes in, and he said, “you have naked people here all the time?”
Kristina has expertise in creating wood block prints, something she discovered in Japan in the early 80s. “I toured a bunch of shops of wood print blockers…some would teach in Oregon. I learned by attending intensive printmaking courses.”
To carve 36 different versions of Mount Rainier, in a limited edition of 25, took her five years. “I did sell a couple of them along the way. Once it was done in 2010, it toured the country for ten years, and then went to Japan.”
Once she had children, she says, it was challenging. “I was focused on making art, but it was hard to stay in the scene…and that’s a big part of it. What I’d tell young artists, knowing what I know now: be nice to everyone, be generous. Give work away. Get it out on other people’s walls, don’t hoard it in your house.”
As the internet rose, more opportunities for group shows came with it. “A dear friend of mine has a daughter who has severe disabilities; I helped her have her first show. I then met other people in the disability community, and through the state of Maryland.”
Kristina shares that, “Strong women have been strong for a long time. My mother supported my father for the first ten years of their marriage when he was appearing in off-Broadway shows.” After her father died, she says she lost nearly everything. “I lost my daughter’s health insurance…my job. Things just disappeared. I did whatever I could. Dog walking, renting out my room…and although I was encouraged to, I was reluctant to write a book.”
Having dyslexia, she went to the Department of Disabilities who assisted her with tech assistant materials so she could write. “I found an agent and the agent found a publisher, and I was able to make enough money to launch my daughter into college…and then the next one.”
She says she faced one of her greatest feats writing, The Eternal Party: Understanding My Dad, Larry Hagman, the TV Star America Loved to Hate. “I wrote a 1000 pages, and thought if it’s just cathartic, it gets cut. But if I touch someone and it helps them through a difficult patch, it stays in the book. It was also around the same time as the “Me Too” movement and one of my daughters was advocating for Title IX (prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities) for women in college.”
I ask Kristina if she ever experiences “artist’s block.” She smiles and walks off to grab something, returning with what she calls her “imagination box.” It’s full of clippings, references and sketches she uses for inspiration. She ruffles through it showing me a few and I’m fascinated…I could spend hours doing so myself.
Her husband, Kevin Murphy, also from California, works in international development and loves being close to D.C. His company is based in Arlington and has been here for 37 years. She has two daughters, Kaya, 32, who is a net zero outreach fellow for Oxford University. “She is the scientist translator for corporations.” Nora, 28, is in Boston, and graduating in May with her masters in urban planning. She also has two stepchildren, Kennan, 29, who’s working and living in New York and Malika, 33, who is at Stanford and is focused on sustainability for the university.
She and Kevin will travel to Japan later this fall. “It’s mostly for pleasure. We’re going on a Japanese Onsen Tour…touring the bathhouses in the countryside. I don’t have any grandkids yet, so now is the time. I love the perspective of being 66, you can pick out pieces of any part of your life and revisit them. We’re going on the tour with eight couples. You sleep on a tatami floor mat, hike the mountains…dip in natural pools. It’s a whole culture of nude.”
What does she love about Alexandria? “ I meet a ton of interesting people here. People really talk to each other, more than LA, more than Seattle, more than NY. You can walk to the restaurants, and there’s great thrifting. I went to Vida and I bought a jacket I would never buy…but it was a fraction of the original price. I like supporting local businesses; I love the Torpedo Factory. And I like having friends come over from D.C. on the water taxi for dinner.”
See Kristina’s work on the third floor on what she says is the “best view in the Torpedo Factory”: April 4 & 5: 2-7pm; April 6, 2-6pm. Torpedo Factory Art Center, Overlook Room (3rd floor, #325), 105 North Union Street, Alexandria, VA.
