Kim Cardoso (b. 1969) is a visual artist originally from Baltimore, Maryland. Her practice is rooted in material honesty and an intimate dialogue with natural processes. After completing her BA in art and psychology at McDaniel College, she began in Baltimore as a metalsmith. A calling took her West to become a midwife- where she earned her MS in Nursing at the University of California, founded a free clinic for women, then became a mother. In 2013, Cardoso returned to art as a painter. Her work has been exhibited widely including Garvey|Simon, New Art Center, Artlink, and the Crocker Art Museum. She lives with her family on an urban farm in Oakland, California, and continues to work as a midwife.
I’m a loud person who makes quiet art. My work is a search for stillness. Through fields of color, luminous surfaces, and repeated forms that accumulate in the making, I am focused on the places where we meet nature and notice time. Working primarily with encaustic wax, I approach painting with a craftsperson’s heart. Layering and repair become part of the work’s history, echoing the geological formations and landscapes that inspire me. I see nature’s slow rhythms of growth and erosion with the same attentiveness I bring to my work as a midwife: patient and in awe. My paintings are an invitation to slow down in an overwhelming world.
SELECTED EXHIBITS
2025 Lifted, Kriste Michelini, Danville, CA
2025 SF Open Studios, Room & Board, San Francisco, CA
2025 Aligned, Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland, CA
2025 Pint Size 3, Transmission Gallery, Oakland, CA
2025 GLASS HALF FULL (solo exhibit), Manna Gallery, Oakland, CA
2025 what beauty is for, SHOH Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2025 ART KALA 2025, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2025 Chasing Cornflowers, Copper Leg Art Residency, Vaskaja, Estonia
2024 Material Resonance, Kriste Michelini, Danville, CA
2024 Exhale, SHOH Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2024 Art Exclusive, Sorelle Gallery, Westport, CT
2024 San Francisco Open Studios, Room & Board, San Francisco, CA
2024 Changing the Narrative, Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, CA
2024 Explorations in Monochromatic Art , Arts Benicia, Benicia, CA
2024 The Mills Building Lobby Exhibition, Artsource, San Francisco CA
2023 Select West 2023 Garvey|Simon, San Anselmo, CA
2023 The Space Between, Arc Gallery & Studios, San Francisco, CA
2023 Ephemeral / Ephemera Mulranny Arts, County Mayo, Ireland
2023 Roundtable Collaboration Postal Collage No. 12, Berkeley, CA
2023 tiny. Two Cats Gallery, El Cerrito, CA
2023 Call & Response: Art & Poetry. O”Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, CA
2023 Art After Dark. Edna Contemporary, San Luis Obispo, CA
2023 Ritual Open. DeWitt Clinton Park, New York City, NY
2023 The Wind Walked With Her: Kim Cardoso, Eileen S. Moderbacher, & Wanda Westberg, SHOH Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2023 Convergence: The Intersection of Wax, Color, & Design. Village Theater Art Gallery, Danville CA
2023 Hot & Cold: Wax Artists of California, Blue Line Arts, Roseville, CA
2022 14th Annual 50|50 Show, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA
2022 Ritual Open. Oxon Run Park, Washington, DC
2022 The Wild Side: California Women Celebrate the Untamed, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2022 Silent Art Auction & Big Names Small Art, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
2022 Slopes of Diablo, Valley Art Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
2022 Convergence, Art Center Morro Bay, Morro Bay, CA
2022 Shimmer, June Steingart Art Gallery, Laney College, Oakland, CA
2022 The Dark of Night, Jen Tough, Santa Fe, NM
2022 Your True Colors, Escondido Arts Partnership, Escondido, CA
2022 Postcard Exhibition, Artlink, Fort Wayne, IN
2021 Painting at Night, Artlink & Artist/Mother Podcast, Fort Wayne, IN
2021 Metamorphosis, Tubac Center for the Arts, Tubac, AZ
2021 Local Inspiration, O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, CA
2021 Global Warming is Real, Museum of Encaustic Art, Cerrillos, NM
2021 Business Card Art Show, JKR Gallery, Provo, UT
2017 In Flawed Abundance, New Art Center, Newton, MA
2016 Annual Trunk Show, Simon Breitbard Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
2016 Our Town, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
2016 Third Annual Juried Show, Piedmont Center for the Arts, Piedmont, CA
2015 Collect! Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
2014 Shelter, Art Works Downtown, San Rafael, CA
1995 Beauty is Strangely Familiar, Resurgam Gallery, Baltimore, MD
1994 the elements, Resurgam Gallery, Baltimore, MD
1993 Silver Anniversary Celebration of American Crafts, Creative Arts Workshop, CT
1993 Invitational, Carroll County Arts Council, Westminster, MD
1992 City Visions, Harborplace & the Gallery, Baltimore, MD
REPRESENTATION
Edna Contemporary, San Luis Obispo, CA
Sorelle Gallery, Westport, CT
Kriste Michelini, Danville, CA
artstudio 101, Phoenix, AZ
EDUCATION
1998 MS, Nurse Midwifery, University of California, San Francisco
1991 BA in Art & Psychology, McDaniel College, MD
1991 Kenya- Coastal Studies Program, School for International Training
SPARKS & STORIES
