Meet Kat Haynes | printmaker and freelance artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kat Haynes and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kat, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
As an artist, I don’t think I take risk quite as a seriously or give as much thought as people who are more left-brained in general. As human beings we take risks every single day whether we realize it or not, and I was probably about 30 years old before I finally realized that. I had a rough time in my high school years, very little to lose- and when you feel like you have nothing to lose, what reason do you have to hesitate? That being said, I’ve always had a pretty high risk threshold, especially compared to the average person. The most beautiful and rewarding parts of my life have only occurred due to the risks I was willing to take. They have shaped my experience in the world and my entire perspective on basically everything- I owe it all to risk. I think it’s definitely safe to say that without risk, I would be much more boring of a person. And certainly my art would be as well.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My journey as an artist has not been easy or simple by any means. Currently, I’m pretty focused on graphic design and printmaking, but I started out as a little kid who just liked to draw and listen to old Elvis tapes. My earliest drawings of people all had on these big-brimmed sun hats and a piece of straw hanging out of their mouths (I’m originally from South Mississippi.) I was always drawing ridiculous scenes, looking at magazines, obsessing over weird food labels, cutting stuff out for no reason and having a million little stashes everywhere to keep me busy. I taught myself how to play guitar and piano by age seven, so by age fourteen I was not only sort of over it, but I had started getting into a little bit of trouble here and there and was always getting my guitars taken away. I played trumpet well but got bored with that pretty quickly too.
To be honest, I think there was a very long period of time in my life where I tried as hard as I could NOT to be artist. Which is interesting because when I dove back into it, it was also out of pure necessity as well. I tried to repress my creativity for most of later school years, I think mostly out of self-preservation and functioning in pure survival mode. I don’t know, kind of thinking like- who has time for that anyways? But I have never been able to escape it entirely because it’s just who I am. It’s how I spend my time. Even though I refused to pick up an instrument for years probably out of pure spite, instead I wound up becoming obsessed with the early days of drum pads and vinyl sampling and even ambient sound. Even though I refused to pick up a pen or a pencil for years, I still wound up working with spray paint, making stupid stickers, writing my name on literally everything I could and taking photos of everything everywhere I went. That sort of led me to where I am today, with screen printing and printmaking. It’s like something you can’t avoid.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Atlanta weekend itinerary! Let’s go.

Friday- I’d say breakfast at Ria’s Bluebird, get the brisket, and walk it off with a little stroll through Oakland. Gotta pay respects to the late great Kenny Roger’s. For lunch I’d probably hit Little’s in Cabbagetown because it’s close and always bangin, and then enjoy some of the street art along that way. For nighttime activities I think we’re heading over to Edgewood for some Area 51 at Joystick, and we’ll probably end the night across the street at Church playing ping-pong.

Saturday we’re going back to Memorial for some breakfast at Homegrown, and then we’re hitting up the flea market at Starlight, followed by a short hike through the Doll’s Head Trail. It’s definitely one of my favorite places to get away from folks in the middle of the city and it also caters to my need for some base level of absurdity in my every day life. For a late lunch we’re going over to Krog for some sandwiches and drinks at Ticonderoga Club, and then we’d take the Beltline going westbound to watch the sunset on the roof at Clermont, hitting up the lounge after ten for some disco fun.

Sunday we’re probably a little worn out so we’re taking it easy all day in Little Five. Coffee at Java Lords followed by the veggie platter next door at Ali Baba. Get an order of Spanakopita too. Hair of the dog at Elmyr with a couple grizzes (what’s the plural of grizz?!) and some cheese dip and then we’re checking out Criminal Records for a bit. Absolutely have to stop at Yacht Club for some pierogis and french fries, I hate pierogis but I’m obsessed with these. Then we’re taking a walk to the other end of the neighborhood and spending a couple hours playing dress up at Clothing Warehouse, Psycho Sisters, and Junkman’s Daughter, capping off the whole weekend with pizza and beer at Savage next door.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Atlanta Printmakers Studio! All of my former colleagues from Biltong off Ponce (RIP), and the entire community of working folks at Ponce City Market.

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