wanderlust

Eunice Kindred: Interview With An Energizer Bunny

I waited with Camilo, the NYC-APs photographer, in the lobby of a doormanned building in the Financial District. He was under the impression she was upstairs, however I knew enough about Eunice Kindred to know that she hardly ever rests. As she raced a bit hurriedly and flushed through the front doors, fresh from her day job as an Art Director for an advertising firm, I was proven correct. She wore her usual bubbly smile, large dark rimmed glasses; her fiery lions mane hair framing her face and testifying to her mixed Philippine/Black American ancestry. With a hug and a handshake we officially entered the world of Eunice Kindred: a place full of creative force––swirls of music, the beat of feet stomping the ground in intricate dance moves, splashes of paint and dulcet serenades. Somewhere there in the background, a violin plays and somehow ingeniously brings it all together.

 

Balancing Spinning Tables


We found her actual apartment Zen-like and beautifully staged. She explained this immaculate state was thanks to her husband who works real estate. Like many people who grow to know and love Eunice, I was surprised to find yet another card up her gambit-like sleeve. I spied a full DJ mix station near the rear of the living room. In addition to her work as a choreographer and artist she has added DJ to her lists of titles and DJs for C. Wonder (a flagship store located in the Shops at Columbus Circle in the Time Warner Center).


This Harvard-educated artist has so many layers, countless talents and mounds of energy. It is difficult to summarize her life and accomplishments in one article, so I let’s let her do the talking.


Jack of All Trades…Master of ALL


NYC-APs: Who are you? Tell me a little about what made you “you”.

EK: I was born in the Philippines on a military air base. My mother is Filipino. I was a military brat up until high school. I started drawing at the age of 5; I remember my first drawing [laughs], it was of Garfield. And my first watercolor was of a duck. Also around that time I started to get more serious about dance. I started ballet at the age of 2. This was my focus until at the age of 10 I fell in love with hip-hop dance. We did a lot of relocating during those years; from the Philippines to New Hampshire, Maine and then Florida. These are the places where I studied art most intensively. I started oil painting in NH at 10 years old and found it was my favorite medium. I did my first few professional art shows around then and had the chance to apprentice with a few notable artists. One of whom was “Mrs. Manderville”; that is how I remember her. We would go to her studio in Maine and just paint for days.

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