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THE BEGINNING
Kimberly Fitch was born and raised in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Southeast Ohio. Her family has farmed there and in West Virginia since before the Revolutionary War. “My dad was a chemical plant foreman who has always had more hobbies than I could count. He paints, carves wood, plays a variety of instruments and composes music as well. My mother and my grandmother were both piano teachers, and my Granny is a quilter,” she recalled. She grew up hearing music and smelling oil paint. “There was always something creative going on. It seems only natural that I would marry an artist and a woodworker! My husband Chris brought me here to Iowa almost five years ago when he took a position as a project designer for August Home Publishing, and he is now a Senior Designer there, working on Woodsmith and Shopnotes magazines and teaching at The Woodsmith Store,” shared Kim.
What inspires her to perform? Her answer is, “I was born that way. I'm just not normal. Honest… Mediocrity and lack of respect for our profession discourages me, which IS a profession to those of us who have spent THOUSANDS of dollars and years of our lives to learn it. Horses and gardening are my hobbies...art is my life.”
 METRO ARTS AND ARTS EDUCATION
Kim has been on the Metro Arts Roster for the past three years working with the Arts on the Go and Metro Kids Arts Awareness programs. Recently, she participated in Fine Arts Day at Jordan Creek Elementary and had a great time. This year she hopes to be working in extended residencies with curriculum integration with Metro Arts and the Zoo Tots program.
Kim shared, "I feel very strongly about introducing children to the energy and richness of live performance and encouraging them to find their own language of expression. The work I have done through Metro Arts has allowed me to share the creative fire that has driven me since I was a child. To see that spark come to life in a new generation is a real joy indeed."
“The long-term residencies that I have done at SCAVO and PACE through pARTners Unlimited have been labors of love for me; the past two years have been well spent in the company of high-risk youth. They have taught me a lot about art and life. I really have a heart for these young people and hope to continue this work. I was very impressed by the administration of both these facilities, and it inspired me to do my very best too.”
Last summer Kim was a resident artist for the Iowa Diversity Mural and got to travel all over the state working in a wide variety of youth services. She enjoyed her experience with her sites and learned a lot about her new home state. Kim explained, “I met payroll trackers, case workers, adoption specialists and 4H leaders, not to mention the kids, who were fantastic! Each panel of the mural and location presented a whole new set of challenges I had to plug my experience in to solve. I really like that kind of work.”
 THE PERFORMER
“In my now 23 years as a working artist, I have had many extraordinary moments from illustrating for archaeologists in the Amazon, to learning theatre from the ground up at Soho Repertory Theatre in New York in the bad old 1980s, to playing the Turf Club at Churchill Downs and accompanying dance class for some wonderful choreographers. There have been countless people who I have been fortunate to have in my life and perform with in my almost five years here in Iowa.”
Singing the Beethoven 9 with Maestro Guinta and the Symphony was a great experience for Kim. She termed it, “Quite simply, what a blast.” Last season, Kim was Mezzo soloist for the “Lord of the Rings”, and got to sing Gandalf's Funeral Lament. “I loved singing in Elvish, but I missed having Maestro G. on the podium!” said Kim.
Kim has had countless wonderful moments onstage with Dr. Randy Buikema over the past four years, from singing Judy Garland with the Gay Men's Chorus, to the Mozart “Requiem” and “The Tavener Lamentations and Praises” with the Westminster Presbyterian Church's Arts Series. Kim remembered, “One of the best moments was coming out and singing the Gustav Holst's ‘Six Part Songs' completely cold with the Gay Men's Chorus and Orchestra having learned the piece that afternoon after replacing the soloist who was ill! There was so much trust and communication between all of us. Then, of course, there was the time that I sang Brahms' “Liebeslier Waltzes”, the came out as Carmen, THEN came out as Cher all in the same concert!!!! I will never forget that! I think it was then that Randy and I figured out that we LOVE costume changes!”
“I am very proud of the score for "Cut Here" that I wrote for Kathleen Hurley and her company, they have kept it in their repertoire and performed it at various Fringe Festivals. I love to accompany Kathleen's “Limon” classes; she teaches a wonderful class, and her company members are counted among my dearest friends. In addition, my jazz work with the newly forming Ballyhoo Foxtrot Orchestra has been very rewarding. John Benoit is a wonderful arranger, and the guys are great musicians and FUN.”
She continued, "Out of necessity, I have become extremely versatile in order to keep working. Stretching the envelope has become commonplace for me, from working with high-risk teens to writing music for pre-schoolers. I have lots of conventional training, tons, in fact. But my heart always has been and always will be in the avant-garde. I love the spontaneity of jazz and the sensuality of classical singing, but I am equally at home with Bluegrass. My dream jobs would be singing very difficult pieces of graphic notation by Crumb and Ligeti...oh, and put some hard-core conceptual modern dance theatre with it...then I am in heaven."
 UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
May 21, 2006
The John Morgan Orchestra at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Des Moines
Time: 4 pm
Cost: Free
June 9, 10, and 11, 2006
“Receive and Transmit”
This is a new Collaborative Vision based on the Book of Ecclesiastes and presented by the Westminster Arts Series. This multi-media installation and improvisation was inspired by The Living Theatre, The Wooster Group, FLUXUS and The Action Theatre of Ruth Zaporah by Kimberly Fitch, Paula McArthur, David Decker, Casey Gradischnig and Sara Spink.
Location: Westminster Presbyterian Church, Corner of Beaver and Franklin, Des Moines
Interactive Exhibit begins at 7 pm; The Journey begins at 7:30 pm
Admission: Free
*PARENTAL ADVISORY: Contains emotionally and visually graphic material that may be disturbing to small children. Free childcare is provided.
Performances with Ballyhoo Foxtrot Orchestra
August 6, Music Under the Stars on the State Capitol Steps, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
August 10, Old Settlers Days, Corydon
Sept. 24, The Octagon Center, Octagon Art Festival, Ames
November 1, St. John's Lutheran Lunchtime Concert Series
Winter of 2007:
“Gender Bender”
Kimberly Fitch in recital with the Ballyhoo Foxtrot Orchestra at the Thoreau Center. "Hot Vintage Jazz sung by a girl in a tux with a moustache!" - Kim.
HER INFLUENCES
“Influences are VERY important to me, because I IMMERSE myself in these things. In the cultural desert of Iowa, one must be constantly refreshed. It is essential to creativity AND survival... I am a voracious reader and connoisseur of culture, both Haute and Ephemoral. These lists could go on and on, but I will skim the top…” shared Kim.
WRITERS: Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Robert Waltzer, Bruno Schultz, Rumi, Anne Sexton, Henry Miller, Virginia Woolf, Janet Flanner, Paul Bowles, William S. Burroughs , Allen Ginsburg, Quentin Crisp, Gunter Grass and Antonin Artaud, BATMAN comics and the graphic novels of Alan Moore.
VISUAL AND CONCEPTUAL ARTISTS: Joseph Beuys, Vito Acconci, The FLUXUS Movement, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Gilbert and George, Charles Burchfield, Egon Schiele, Franz Marc, Ray Johnson, George Tooker, American Primitive Art, Imogene Cunnigham, Ralph Meatyard, Diane Arbus, and Mary Ellen Mark.
FILM: David Lynch, Lars von Treir, The Brothers Quay, Krzystof Kieslowski, Jan Svankmajer, Werner Herzog, Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau, American Classroom Scare Films and Social Engineering 1940-1978, Drive-in movie trailers and Exploitation Film, Bollywood musicals, Ed Wood.
DANCE: Merce Cunningham, Pina Bausch, Meredith Monk, Carbon 14, Jane Comfort, and Jiri Kylian.
MUSIC: John Cage, George Crumb, Brian Eno, Schoenberg, Ned Rorem, Ligeti, Stravinski, Alban Berg, Peter Maxwell-Davies, Pink Floyd, Beck, Prince, Hazel Dickens, Loretta Lynn, Doc Watson, Merle Haggard, Chet Baker, Bill Evans, George Shearing, Dexter Gordon, Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Milton Nascimento, Maria Callas, Elly Ameling, Fischer- Dieskau, and Jan de Gaetani.
CONTACT KIMBERLY
Kimberly Fitch
3212 140th Street
Lorimor, IA 50142
641-763-2770; cell: 515-979-3143
windrun@grm.net
Kimberly Fitch is also available for school workshops. For more information please click here or call Metro Arts at 515-280-3222.
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