Kalani Engles studied art at Stanford University under acclaimed artists Nathan Oliveira, Frank Lobdell and Joseph Zirker. She has exhibited her paintings and prints at many museums and galleries, including the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, The San Jose Museum of Art, the Nicolaysen Museum in Casper, Wyoming, the Peninsula Museum of Art in Burlingame, California and the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, California. Her art is in many public and private collections, including the U.S. Department of State, the Triton Museum of Art, and the Arkansas Arts Center.
“Although my work in recent years has been largely representational, I began my career as an abstractionist. My abstracts are based on things I see, hear, smell or feel, often while traveling. The colors, shapes, mood and composition of my work are extracted from sensory experience, translated into feelings, and recreated from emotional memory, with painterly discipline and technique, months or sometimes years later. My abstract work represents the tangible world, interpreted by my subconscious, rather than pure idea or emotion. Over time my work began to take on more recognizable form while still being strongly informed by abstraction. Both my abstracts and representational pieces are inspired by nature. I want to show the viewer how familiar scenes in nature can look in exaggerated scale, altered perspective and a full palate of color.”