About Kayla
Kayla Griffin is a contemporary surrealist painter based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Figurative Painting and Color Theory from the Academy of Art University (2023) and a Master of Arts in Communication from Boise State University, where her research focused on how the body communicates beyond language.
Her paintings, created in oil, acrylic, and ink on canvas, explore the tension between difficult emotions and the resilience of joy. Influenced by artists such as Dorothea Tanning, Steven Kenny, Ferdinanda Florence, and Kazland, Kayla’s work draws from themes of liminal spaces, nostalgia, and memory. She frames joy itself as an act of resistance, creating works that are at once inviting and challenging—dreamlike yet unflinchingly honest.
Kayla’s work has been exhibited in galleries across the United States and internationally, including a solo exhibition at TereVarna and group exhibitions in Los Angeles and Belgrade. In addition to her studio practice, she has taught drawing, painting, design principles, and art theory at Weber State University and continues to share her passion for both academic structure and creative play.
Her art is deeply personal: rooted in survival, transformation, and the belief that painting can hold both pain and possibility. She lives in Tulsa with her husband, whose unwavering support and partnership remain her greatest inspiration.
Kayla is married to her best friend, Mark Galaviz. Together they have an escargatoire of snails, a rescue dog, and many plants.
CV
Exhibitions & Awards
September 2025 – UAR Residency (FALL)
Jan. 2025 – Group Exhibition – (touring US) – Influx of Discourse
April 2024 – Group Exhibition & Fundraiser – Eccles Art Gala, Ogden, UT
Jan. 2024 – Group Exhibition – Call of the Wild, Artlounge Collective, Los Angeles, CA
July 2023 – Group Exhibition – Apothecary, Artlounge Collective, Los Angeles, CA
June 2023 - Solo Exhibition Invitation - Belgrade Artist in Residence, Belgrade Serbia
May 2023 – Curated the International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Disorders Patient Art Exhibition: https://iffgd.org/the-art-of-fgids/
April 2023 – Permanent Solo Exhibition – International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Disorders
April 2023 – Solo Exhibition – TereVarna, Online
Feb. 2022 - Artist in Residence - Belgrade Artist in Residence, Belgrade Serbia (Online)
Dec. 2021 - Certificate of Achievement - Luxembourg Art Prize
Dec. 2020 - Certificate of Excellence – Artavita
Nov. 2020 - Group Exhibition Online - Show Goes On, An Online Party Experiment
Mar. to Jun. 2020 - Artist Coalition - Gallery 25, Ogden, UT
Jan. 2018 - Group Exhibition - Pure Exquisite Sin, Art at The Cave, Vancouver, WA
May 2016 - Group Exhibition, RAW Artists, Boise, ID
May 2014 - Student Showcase, College of Southern Idaho, Twin Falls, ID
Publications
Poetry Book
Griffin, K. and Galaviz, M. (2024, February). Love Poems & Sticky Notes. Miracle Publishing Group, California.
Research Paper
Griffin, K. and McClellan, E (2017, February). Walleyball and the Socio-Material Rhetoric of Border Walls. Western States Communication Association, Salt Lake City.
Anthology
Thurston, J.W. (2014). Wolf Warriors: The National Wolfwatcher Coalition Anthology. Thurston Howl Publications, Murfeesboro, TN. “Guardian,” p.157.
Education
2023 MFA, Figurative Painting & Color Theory
Academy of Art University, California
2017 MA, Communication (Embodied Rhetoric)
Boise State University, Idaho