About Me.
Kylee McKinney is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores visual storytelling through layered materials and thoughtful design. Working across painting, textiles, mixed media, and printmaking, she creates compositions that translate narrative into form, color, and texture. Her current body of work, Told in Color and Form, reimagines cultural Salish and personal stories as visual experiences, focusing on how art can communicate across generations and perspectives.
McKinney earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Summa Cum Laude, in Art Practices from CU Denver, with a minor in Digital Design, and is currently pursuing her education license to teach K-12 art. Her academic training and community experience have shaped a practice grounded in curiosity, material exploration, and the power of visual language. She has participated in exhibitions, taught art workshops, and contributed to collaborative installations—all of which inform her dynamic and evolving approach to artmaking.
With an emphasis on storytelling, symbolism, and materiality, McKinney’s work seeks to spark reflection and connection. She sees each piece as a space for interpretation, where visual elements act as prompts for memory, imagination, and dialogue.
Artist Statement
My work transforms Salish oral and written stories into visual compositions, using painting and mixed media to reimagine their structure, symbolism, and rhythm. Rooted in my Sinixt lineage, I draw from Salish art traditions—pattern, form, and materiality—to create works that function as living vessels for story. Rather than illustrating narratives literally, I translate them into layered visual languages that reflect the way stories are remembered, retold, and carried forward.
My current body of work, Told in Color and Form, explores the intersection of Salish mythology, art tradition, and contemporary visual storytelling. Through painting and mixed media, the project reimagines traditional teachings as immersive visual experiences. By embedding ancestral knowledge into contemporary expression, I aim to counter erasure and affirm the ongoing presence of Salish culture in today’s art landscape.
