I make art and write on a variety of topics that move me, including broadening our perceptions of gender and aging, de-stigmatizing mental illness and learning differences, and celebrating the environment. My primary fine art form is portraiture done in the mediums of graphite, charcoal, and oil paint. In writing, it is poetry, fiction short stories, and creative non-fiction.

I am grateful to have had illustrations and poetry published in several issues of Forum Magazine. I am also humbled to have been selected as the 2021 recipient of the Felicia Farr Lemon Poetry Prize hosted by the Academy of American Poets.

For me, creating art is about figuring something out that I don’t know how to say or process any other way. It is healing and joyful. As we grow older, it is one of those ways that we can still surprise ourselves.

I sign my artwork with “KRIS” in honor of my grandfather, whom I was named after.

Kristin Jensen

San Francisco, CA