Interact - Kaia Burg

September 18, 2024 – January 20, 2025

Since 1996 in St. Paul, Minnesota, the Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts has been creating art that challenges perceptions of disability. They were the first – and remain the only – combined visual and performing arts organization nationally or internationally to offer full-time, daily practice of professional-level theater and visual arts to support the creative growth of artists with disabilities. Interact’s vision of radical inclusion blurs the boundaries between who “can” and who “cannot”. They continually push the boundaries of traditional art forms by including unique perceptions of their artists. The artists experience the audience’s appreciation, which brings about a healing and unifying effect. They expand the meaning of “accessibility” for artists with disabilities by playing an active role in the creative process. The Interact Center exemplifies the idea of community integration by supporting artists with and without disabilities working side by side every day.

Currently, over 70 visual artists call Interact their studio. Their gallery aims to advance the recognition of their work through exhibitions, partnerships, and collaborative opportunities.

Are you interested in viewing or purchasing artwork from this UI Health Care exhibition? You can! View the artwork.

Photo credit: Kaia Burg, “Untitled,” 2023, Color pencil and graphite on paper, 24” x 18”

Kaia Burg art
Kaia Burg
Practicing at Interact since 2021, Kaia Kathleen Burg creates wildly energetic drawings that transport viewers into a world of expressive marks and vibrant colors. She distills personal experiences into simplified shapes, arranging them in dramatic compositions that stretch to the edges of the image plane. Her recent works often depict smiling people, butterflies, and other animals. Oblong shapes may represent trees, flowers, or figures; triangles may stand in for mountains; and symmetrical patches of color may represent butterfly wings. Burg draws from her memories and imagination, saying, “It’s in my head.”

Burg has always been an artist. She has exhibited her work at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, HGA Architects in Minneapolis’s North Loop, and Interact Gallery.

View more of her work. (link: https://gallery.interactcenterarts.org/collections/kaia-burg)