Kim Bennett Porter is a painter and collage artist based in Boise, Idaho. Working from her studio in Garden City’s creative district, she creates art deeply tied to personal experiences,  environmental rhythms and imagination. Raised in a ranching family of immigrant homesteaders and Basque sheepherders, Kim grew up surrounded by weathered landscapes—rusted machinery, sun-worn wood, and walls layered with history. These elements have profoundly influenced her understanding of how time and memory are embedded in nature and physical spaces.  In her formative adult years, Kim lived in Madrid, Tokyo, Paris, and Conakry which expanded her pallet, introducing her to urban textures—gritty, worn surfaces that tell global stories of human migration.

Kim's work is a dialogue between regeneration and decomposition, exploring the impact of light and seasonal changes on the natural world. Her art alludes to nature being subtly altered to create human spaces that evoke a sense of home.  Her texture and composition choices unfold in a visual language that is both abstraction and figuration.

All of Kim's paintings start with underlayers built up like a sculptural relief using paper, glass bead, sand, and ceramic stucco. These layers are then painted in varying thicknesses, sanded down, and re-painted repeatedly until the interplay between intentional brushstrokes and the unpredictable results of distressing reveal the desired textural qualities. By emphasizing these details, Kim invites viewers to experience the beauty found in revolutions of rebirth and decay, giving the sense that her pieces not only depict but have also been through life cycles of their own.