Ali Kay shares her craft online and in person
Nestled in the heart of downtown, McCallie Avenue may seem like an ordinary street, but many of the buildings feature a variety of full-scale murals, all of which are arguably fantastic. These murals are part of the McCallie Walls Mural Project, which is an artist collaboration that created Chattanooga’s first drive-thru art gallery.
One of the most eye-catching murals is the little airplane boy. Donned in pilot’s goggles and a toy airplane at his side, his arms are outstretched, ready for flight. This particular mural was created by Ali Kay, a Chattanooga-based artist who’s had a paintbrush in her hand since she was old enough to grasp it.
Ali Kay, who was born and raised in West Bend, Wisconsin, received her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in 2006. She also started her own art business, Positive Space, at the age of 19. A year after graduating from college, Kay got married and she and her husband moved to Houston, Texas in 2010 before relocating to Chattanooga in 2013.
“I do a lot of different things. I kind of started out as more of a muralist, and I was doing a lot of decorative painting in homes and wall finishes and stuff, too. I used to live in Houston, and so there, I did a lot of that,” said Kay. “Since I’ve been here, it’s kind of changed a little bit and I’m doing a lot more teaching. A lot of the artwork I create are samples designed for classes and then I do a lot of custom artwork for businesses or homes; a lot of it’s really kind of specialized.”
While Kay’s art career may have started with a focus on murals, she’s branched out to create both portraits and her reactive series as she’s delved further into her work; all of which utilize her expressive brush strokes and beautiful arrays of color.
Kay explained that her reactive series involves a type of paint that goes on black but changes in form to create actual rust, which she uses to layer in her paintings. She also utilizes a green patina, which mimics oxidation you see on old metals. Some of her most popular reactive series paintings include intricate florals and trees.
“There’s a rust paint that has iron particles on the paint and it goes on black. Then we spray it with this activator and it turns to real rust so it’s embedded in the paintings. There’s also a copper one that turns to the green patina. I kind of teach that process [in my classes], like how to incorporate those paints into their artwork,” Kay said. “It’s super cool because the paint goes on totally black then they create the paintings on top of it then we spray it. The iron paint will turn to rust in about five to six hours; usually, we let it go overnight. That’s a fun class and fun process to teach.”
In addition to her commercial, residential, and commissioned pieces, Kay has also spent the past six years hosting workshops at her studio, Positive Space, in the Chattanooga Workspace. She explained that she typically hosts about six workshops a year, and she has students who come from all across the country (and even Canada) to learn about her process in the intense two to three day classes.
More recently, Kay has ventured into teaching online, where she posts instructional videos on a teaching website, Zenso Creative, and on her YouTube channel. Because of where she’s at in her life right now, Kay said she enjoys studio work a little more than she used to. She has two children in elementary school so the flexibility of creating art in her own studio and the flexibility of designing and posting online classes and videos works really well for her and her family.
“I think my long-term goal is to really broaden my reach with my online classes because it’s so fun for me to be able to reach students all over the world. And that’s really cool because those are people that would probably never be able to come here, like how we have a student in Australia,” explained Kay. “I try to stay really connected, so we have a private Facebook group for all the students. When people are working on a class, they can post pictures and get my feedback and then other people in the class can comment on it, too.”
If you’re interested in signing up for one of Kay’s upcoming workshops or in checking out her online instructional videos, visit Kay’s website at postivespaceart.com where you can also view her portfolio and learn more about her painting style.
Her YouTube channel, Ali Kay, is where she posts short videos that allow you to sample her teaching before purchasing the class.
Kay has a truly unique painting style and she’s certainly made a career out of doing what she loves, which is why she’s really excited to be teaching her passion to others who share her love of painting.