K Starks has had a passion for a wide range of art disciplines from an early age, beginning studies in music with violin at age 4 and piano at 6. They (K uses they/them pronouns) graduated from the Baltimore School for the Arts high school as a theatre major, subsequently returning to music with a bachelor's degree from the classical guitar program at Towson University.
While there, they expanded their interests into the visual arts by taking several sculptural and figurative ceramic courses. Though the initial experiments in pencil portraits occurred during this time, it wasn't until 10 years later that they began to draw in earnest.
During those 10 years, K established a career in hospitality, eventually landing on the management side of the bar world. Developing a passion for wine and craft cocktailing as a natural consequence, K often has described creating music and creating cocktails as processes that have more similarities than differences.
The year 2017 brought on a year-long battle with breast cancer, during which they took up acrylic painting to pass the time. Upon a fully successful recovery, K accepted a position as a head of hospitality at a winery in Southern Italy. This much-needed change of pace brought on a new sensitivity to art, culture and spirituality, one that precipitated an exciting and fruitful return to portraiture.
Today, K along with their elderly Pekingese pup, Belle, continues to split their time between Southern Italy and Baltimore, MD, drawing and painting contentedly between adventures of working, studying and writing about wine.
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