Kimberly Arden
New Port Richey, Florida / Temperance, Michigan
Artist Biography
Kimberly Arden is a self-taught professional artist, having worked in polymer clay full-time for over thirty-five years as one of the pioneers of this medium. As an artist, she is best known for her popular line of jewelry and three-dimensional artwork. Her contemporary media belies her meticulous use of the same traditional cane-working techniques used for centuries by Venetian glass artists. For many years before relocating to Florida, she was in great demand as a polymer clay and painting instructor in her home state of Michigan, at both Monroe County Community College and the Bedford Adult Education program.
She has extensively exhibited her award-winning work at juried fine art shows and galleries across the nation, including Art on the Mall at The University of Toledo (Ohio) (Best of Show 2016) and her annual participation in the Crosby Festival of the Arts (Toledo, Ohio) as one of their most-requested artists. Her regional shows include the Ann Arbor Art Fair (Michigan); Cincinnati Summerfair (Ohio); Art in the Park-Common Ground in Birmingham, Michigan and the Columbus and Cincinnati Winterfairs in Ohio. Over the past fifteen years, she has spent each winter exhibiting in fine art shows throughout the state of Florida.
Her enthusiastic love of color is clearly evident in her work. In 2008, she was featured on HGTV’s That’s Clever. Additionally, in 2015, her work was featured in the October issue of PolymerCAFÉ magazine.
Kimberly Arden has enjoyed membership in many prestigious regional and national artist guilds and associations including: Metro Detroit Polymer Art Guild (Michigan), Ohio Designer Craftsman Guild, Michigan Guild of Artists and Artisans, International Polymer Clay Association, Columbus Polymer Art Guild (Ohio), as well as locally in the women’s Athena Art Society in Toledo, Ohio.
Arden additionally has a background in studio glass, with a family connection to Tom McGlauchlin, a pioneer in the Studio Glass Movement in Toledo. As a child, Arden played under McGlauchlin’s work bench as he taught classes to students including Arden’s mother. With her own training as a glass artist initially inspired by glass mosaic techniques, Arden first exhibited at 20 North Gallery as a stable-represented jeweler in Tom McGlauchlin: New Art (2009). In 2010, Arden was featured in a solo exhibition of her work, at 20 North Gallery, Adorning Glory; Jewelry by Kimberly Arden. This exhibit was 20 North Gallery’s first all-jewelry exhibit and the first all-polymer clay art exhibit in the state of Ohio. The exhibit was featured in the popular online publication Polymer Clay Daily, prompting international visits and sales. Since then, Arden has exhibited at 20 North Gallery in shows such as 20 North / 20 Years as a featured artist in 2012 and The Grant Collection in 2017.
In February of 2023, Kimberly Arden announced her retirement from the professional art business, with 20 North / 30 Years being her “farewell exhibition.”
To learn more about Kimberly Arden’s artistic career and professional history, visit her website at kimberlyarden.com.
Artist Statement
Everybody wants to peer into the artist’s head and try to imagine what on Earth the artist was thinking when they made that cool thing.
Let me tell a little story that sums up what’s going on in my mind: The time was early in my art show career and I was full of myself after getting a taste of success. I had this brilliant idea to create a new product—a design that was sure to become a best-seller. Seriously, I consciously set out to make something with the sole intention that it would appeal to the masses. Off I went to design my would-be lottery ticket.
This new design was well-executed, had a lovely variety of colors and a nice balance—what it didn’t have is any of me in it. I had not put my heart and soul into the work; I had been on autopilot. This was my “lightbulb moment.” From then on, everything that I’ve created has been done as though I was making it for me. I no longer second-guess what might be appealing to others and instead make decisions based on what I love and what feels right.
That, in a nutshell, is my secret—my reason to create. I make what I love, simple as that.
Kimberly Arden’s previous 20 North Gallery exhibits:
For purchase inquiries, please contact 20 North Gallery:
419-241-2400 or info@20northgallery.com