Allen Kinast

Based in Portland, Oregon, I am a working artist who creates one-of-a-kind pieces of art for clients across the United States. My work falls into two categories.

On the more functional side, I design and build custom pieces of furniture for people’s homes and offices. An emphasis on the creative use of reclaimed materials continues to inform my furniture designs.

My more playful side comes through in my wall-hung artwork. This work ranges from a very popular series of smaller, hand-painted wooden tiles to more sizable wall pieces.

The smaller-scale work merges representational and abstract imagery to create primal landscapes. In many ways, these wooden tiles function as a somewhat labor-intensive “sketchbook” for me, a place where I can explore new shapes, textures and colors.

The larger wall pieces are more purely abstract creations that employ a unique lath board mosaic technique that I’ve also used in my furniture designs.

Why reclaimed wood? Apart from my conviction that reusing discarded resources is the environmentally right thing to do, I continue to enjoy the challenge that comes in transforming discarded materials into something fresh and new.