Each year, the RN&R contracts with a local artist to illustrate our Best of Northern Nevada issue. This year, it’s Kaija MacKinnon. She grew up in New Jersey, graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla., and moved here in 2023 to study at the University of Nevada, Reno. She graduated in May with a master’s degree in fine arts. MacKinnon specializes in half-fantastical drawings of dogs, horses and humans in scenarios that are part adventure tale and part mystery story, with a dash of anime energy—and perhaps just a hint of darkness. To illustrate the Best of Northern Nevada issue, she drew people and animals from the circus—some performing their acts, some behind the scenes, others lost in their own thoughts. This is her first commission post-graduation, and she is in the market to do more. Visit www.kaijamackinnon.com.
How did you first get into making art?
I think I was always drawing, from early elementary (school). I decided I wanted to go to art school. It was basically between drawing or working with animals, which are both risky paths, and I decided to go on an art path. Then I got accepted into the school in Florida. That solidified the route that I wanted to go.
In your illustration work, there are a lot of animals—forest creatures, storybook creatures, and also pets. Tell me about your connection to them. Do animals represent something about humans to you?
I was a homeschooled kid and grew up riding and training horses. That was primarily what I did before I went to college. So, they were always … my social sphere. And I have a Doberman working dog who I did a lot of service training with when I moved to school and couldn’t afford a horse. I’m very introverted and very attached to them in that way. And that obsession just kind of leads into what I draw.
In your Best of Northern Nevada illustrations, there’s joy and kindness—and also melancholy. What converged in your mind to come up with that combination? How did you come up with the theme?
I’m newer to Reno, and Circus Circus is the immediate connection that I make to Reno. I just associate the Arch, and then the big clown sign. That’s always a fun narrative to draw. There are a ton of characters going on in a circus environment. I also went to Ringling in Florida, which we called “The Clown School,” because it’s Ringling Brothers-connected. … It’s definitely something that passed down, which is kind of funny. I really gravitate toward narrative and storybook stuff, and I feel like that’s just a really easy, automatic narrative to add.
What was in your mind that congealed into that combination of joy and melancholy?
That’s a common balance in my work that happens organically. A lot of my work outside of commercial illustration is very mental-health-related. I also love children’s books very much. That combination of having a softer character going through things that are a little heavier has always been interesting to me—(as is) how to combine those themes without relying so heavily on one or the other, trying to keep a balance, since there’s always a gray area.
I’ve been learning to correlate illustration with fine art a lot lately, which has been a really interesting integration. So, the fact that you’re able to see the moods within such a commercial illustration project is something that I hope continues, and I’m glad it is visible in the work so far.