KIM RANSDELL

About

I am a print-maker, painter, and a personal assistant living in Bloomington, Indiana.  Since graduating from IU in 2001, I have continuously worked for myself painting murals and signs, printing t-shirts and gig posters, and doing graphic design for local businesses. At various points when I wanted to learn a new trade, I would find an artist and assist them.  I have worked under a muralist, a resin castor, a screen-printer, and a letterpress printer.  My goal is constant, continued education.

My dear friend + mentor, Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.

In 2008 I formed a collaborative company called The Collective Press after I was given a screen printing press. The goal was to share with the neighborhood what I’d been gifted. Many gig posters were printed and most affectionately, my love for bicycling grew, which led to a series of Bloomington Bike themed shirts in 2009. After a dissolution shortly after, I switched primarily to letterpress printing, which I had all along been emulating. The collective instead turned into a mobile venture to learn from other print makers.  I began visiting a former professor from my days at Indiana University and made several trips to the rural town of Gordo, AL to assist him, learn, and produce letterpress posters and cards. By the end of 2012 when he moved to Detroit, I had traveled there 10 times. I feel blessed to be able to spend so much time with my mentor.

In 2011 I moved my studio from a garage into an old warehouse with dozens of other artists called Trained Eye Arts Center.  Within a year I outgrew that small studio and moved into the Fell Building where I met my partner Daniel who owns the Bloomington Clay Studio. In 2015, after a series of interesting events, he and I moved onto a beautiful chunk of land with room to grow, so we began the transition of moving our businesses/studios to the woods, where it’s clearly a better fit for artists like us. 🙂

In my quest for continued education, I found myself really good at assisting people. Slowly I began taking on select clients who hire me out to do yard work, painting, cooking, cleaning, house-sitting, and projects around the house.  Over the past 6 years, it has become my main source of income as well as education. I get to help my community in valuable and tangible ways, I keep learning new skills, and my art is now something I do for myself instead of as a means to make money.

If you are interested in learning more about my profession as a personal assistant feel free to comment below. I am not interested in any new clients but I am interested in sharing what I have learned.