Artist Profile: Kara Walker on Her Whimsical Flowers and Glowing Lanterns

Kara Walker looks bathed in sunlight when she hops on the Zoom call. Dressed in a bright red and pink satin jacket with embroidered flowers, this floral designer and mixed-media artist evokes the essence of her latest project:“Allure.” Featuring tall foam orchids paired with their respective pollinators, “Allure” is on display at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill.

“I'm whimsical,” she said. “I like the imperfections and things that make it feel more yummy.” This is not the first time that her whimsicality has been on show at the New England Botanic Garden — the Garden had previously commissioned Walker to make larger than life, LED mushrooms. Working from her home in California, Walker custom made each piece before shipping it across the country to Massachusetts.

Whether they are glowing mushrooms or scarlet ire-star orchids, Walker’s creations are bright and bold — they are made to be seen.

Yet, growing up, Walker sought just the opposite: She wanted to be hidden. Walker was born with Goldenhar syndrome, which impacted her facial structure and left her hearing impaired in one ear. This severely impacted Walker’s confidence.

“I would hide myself,” Walker said. “I didn’t want to be seen.”

This bright, bubbly artist described herself as a “lone wolf.” Growing up, she didn’t have friends or play any sports, and she wasn’t involved in other activities, she explained. When she discovered painting as a sixteen-year-old, Walker recognized that she was good at something for the first time.

“It gave me a way to feel valued,” she said. “I didn’t know I was good at anything,” she said, so it was a “mind blowing moment” to identify her strong artistic abilities. She enrolled in community college to study graphic design, but ultimately dropped out to become a muralist. By the age of 19, Walker was a self-employed businesswoman.

She has since developed a deep desire to learn and noted that, beginning with her early successes in mural painting, she started learning a new skill each year — from Venetian plasters to cabinet finishes, Walker has built up an impressive resume of home finishing skills.

From the beginning of her business, she has relied on “trial and error.” She had no mentor to help her along.

She worked in this way for 20 years. Then, Covid hit. All of a sudden, the school schedules of her two elementary school-aged boys mandated that she stay home. To adapt to this unexpected change, she added yet another skill to her repertoire: prop-building.

“Now I'm gonna turn my house into Disneyland,” she said on her switch to prop-building. Despite only beginning to build props five years ago, she feels that this is what she really loves to do. Simultaneously, Walker knows that work must also yield to the demands of life. At this time of her life, work must be done from home. Prop-building fits the mold.

She cites Halloween as her favorite holiday — not because of any particular attachment to the celebrations, but because it’s the time of year when it’s acceptable to indulge in displays of magical sculptures on the front lawn. Her website showcases Poppy Hollow, a collection of glowing flame tips, eerie tombstones, and wide-eyed jack-o-lanterns that allows anyone the opportunity to likewise make their lawn look like a vision from Walker’s imagination.

Walker described her neighbors lining up and down her block to see her creations. She sat on her lawn, sipping a glass of wine.

Even as she enjoyed her creations, Walker described her mind continuing to whir: “While I’m on one project, my brain is already five projects down,” she said.

In recent years, Walker has come to value the community she has since built on Instagram. Despite her own lack of “outside help,” Walker expressed an eagerness to share what she has learned with others.

—Staff writer Sophia N. Downs can be reached at sophia.downs@thecrimson.com.