Kyle Chaput
Kyle Chaput
Kyle A. Chaput was born and raised in Salina, Kansas which lies in the Smoky Hills region of the Great Plains. After receiving a B.F.A. in Printmaking and Drawing from Fort Hays State University, he earned an M.F.A. in Printmaking from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. It was there that Kyle had the rare opportunity to study and teach Color Theory with Bruno Andrade, who was taught the Albers’ tradition and methods in graduate school by two of Josef Albers’ students, Vincent Castagnacci and Si Sillman. This unique opportunity brought about a newfound appreciation for the importance of the elements of art and their role throughout the creative process. Chaput, an Assistant Professor, joined the faculty at Baylor University in 2018. His work has been exhibited in numerous drawing and printmaking juried exhibitions, most recently in Trieste and Torino, Italy; Adjovscina, Slovenia; Kingston, Australia; and London, England.
My continued research explores the many facets of communal identity along the Rio Grande Valley, an increasingly misrepresented international border which remains an entity unto itself, with both nations’ disavowing it. What interests me are personal and collective movement through public spaces and its implications on the physical and social experience of this isolated region. My printed work conveys a sense of excommunication to which people often relate to, while also referencing my own internal struggles with Crohn’s Disease. The abandoned forms reflect a broken condition within the alienated Rio Grande Valley community. Manifestations of these tethered vessels tend to pierce through subconscious thoughts, forcing me to continually question my sense of place and inner stability.