Along the picturesque 4.5-mile stretch of Summit Avenue stand rows of stately Victorian mansions, earning the street recognition as one of America’s greatest in 2008 by the American Planning Association. Among these architectural gems is the Chauncey Griggs Mansion, built in 1883 at a cost of roughly $35,000—equivalent to about $1 million today. The grand home boasted 24 rooms and once housed a family of seven. Today, in what was once the ballroom where Summit Avenue’s elite gathered to drink and celebrate, visitors can admire the mesmerizing artwork of Carolyn Kleinberger.
Red Canyon (2010) is one of the pieces that deeply resonated with me when I visited Carolyn’s studio this summer. With a glass of wine in hand, I stood before it, imagining myself on a winding journey through the large structures, that some, perhaps scaled by others seeking the fastest route over, while I grew energized in the twists and turns along the way. In the distance, a faint white light doesn’t signal an end, but rather invites the imagination to wander beyond, exploring where the path might lead next. To me, it’s a reminder that when we face obstacles, it’s often the twists, turns, and rugged terrain that create the most beautiful memories, or the most humbling stories, that stay with us forever.
When I had the opportunity to be taken in by Carolyn’s exhibit in the grand estate, I was so moved, I had to go back and ask her about her art, her influences and her legacy.
What are some early memories as an artist and/or your first meaningful piece of art created?
I was in eighth grade in public school, a good student, pushed by my parents to study hard to be either a doctor or a lawyer when I grew up. (I did become a public defense attorney and practiced for 24 years).
My favorite classes in school, though, were not science, social studies or politics, but art and languages. I did not excel in art class because my parents demanded full focus and commitment to my other classes. Nonetheless, I did hand in class reports, book reports and other papers with very intricate and beautifully designed covers, illustrations and maps.
My eighth grade teacher noticed my artwork and spoke to me , after class, one day. She asked me to prepare a large exhibit on “Conservation” for a private school where she also taught. I researched conservation and drew and painted 10 large placards discussing 10 separate areas of conservation concerns. It was an incredible opportunity for me to learn about environmental conservation, wildlife conservation, water conservation, etc at a much deeper level than my eighth grade curriculum would provide.
I drew and painted what I felt was a beautiful and informative series. My teacher was very impressed and excited to hand over my artwork to the private school to display in their halls and classrooms.
I never once entered that private school and never saw or heard about my Conservation series again.
Share a little about your influences.
My parents took their three children to live in Munich, Germany for one year when I was 10 years old. My younger brothers stayed home with a caretaker/housekeeper whenever my parents traveled around Europe attending science conferences for my father. As the oldest child I was allowed to accompany my parents.
This began a lifelong love and yearning to travel in the US and abroad. I traveled alone one summer, when I was 17, to work and live in Germany while visiting Rome, Italy and Prague, Czechoslovakia. To this day I continue to travel around the world, sometimes with my children or together with my husband.
I love seeing different countries, cultures, people, ethnicities and foods and love to experience the beauty , color, flavors and smells of foreign lands. Those experiences have greatly impacted my art, not only providing actual content but infusing my art with a joy of life in this world. I find I often want to paint everything I see to keep the memory fresh and close forever.
What have been some of your challenges as an artist and how have you grown?
Creating art has a strong healing effect for me; it is one way to deal with the many difficult, upsetting and sometimes frightening moments I have experienced in my life.
I have been in my studio since 2010 and it is soothing for me to run to my studio, shut the world out and to paint calmly or intensely in that inspiring space.
For example, when COVID hit in March 2020, we all had to separate ourselves from family and friends without knowing for how long? A few weeks, a few months, years? I was extremely sad and lonely until I decided to bring my family and friends to me through portrait painting. I painted large 30″ x 4O” paintings of these people as though we were sitting and talking face to face, close together, without masks, with no fear of COVID. Out of the pandemic came my series “Up Close From A Distance”. A personal yet globally experienced emotional series that kept away loneliness and despair. The series is of people I know living with hope.
Do you have any personal rituals that help you complete your work?
My travels and the travels of others inspire fantastic ideas for painting. So I will scroll through my photo albums on my phone and my many paper albums to move and inspire me. Sometimes, by chance, I receive photos and ideas around one particular subject matter and they jumpstart thoughts for a new series of paintings.
My favorite place to be inspired, though, is my art studio in St. Paul, or my secondary studio setup in our Airbnb in LA, when we visit family.
Really, all I need is a painting environment or a painting idea, which instantly calms, assures and moves me to set up yet another easel and canvas to begin a new piece.
What do you want your legacy to be?
One of my biggest goals in producing my art is to have an impact on the viewer. I love when viewers ask questions about a particular piece, when they linger, staring at the painting, trying to take it all in.
I paint to connect to the artwork and to connect to others through my artwork. When people tell me that they enjoy my art, they love my art, that it resonates with them – then I have accomplished something wonderful.
My hope is that people remember me and my art as connecting people, as a positive light, a positive force and as a painter of beauty. That is what I would like to contribute to what is too much a difficult and painful world.
If you go:
Carolyn wants to meet you, your family, children, and neighbors. She wishes you to use her space as a place of reflection, or a place to host a corporate meeting. Bring your busy toddler to discover brush strokes and color. Or fall in love with your next piece to hang in your historic St. Paul home.
The Chauncey Griggs Mansion Summit Salon
476 Summit Ave.
Tours available by appointment Learn more at carolynkleinberger.com
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