The spirit animal art of Molly Kars

Sebastopol artist looks below the surface of traditional portraiture to a different spiritual reality

Sebastopol artist Molly Kars with some of her work. (Photo from her website)

I first came across Molly Kars’ artwork as I was walking down Main Street and noticed the beautiful rendering of a bird outside of Goldfinch restaurant. Later, scrolling through Instagram, I came across the same image, and this time, I googled the artist.

Kars’ website is a virtual menagerie of animals—but of a very specific type: dressed and posed like humans. There are class photos, where all the children are animals; wedding photos, where all the subjects are animals; and striking single portraits of anthropomorphic animals that Kars calls “spirit animal portraits.”

Spirit animal portrait by Molly Kars. (From her website)

Animals were Kars’ first subjects. She grew up on her grandparents’ ranch in Lincoln, a little town north of Roseville.

“They had this ranch with lots of goats and horses and chickens,” she said. “And so I grew up with a lot of animals, and they became my first subjects because they were the most readily available.”

These early beginnings seem to have had a lasting impact.

“As a child I knew intuitively that the world teamed with spirits: trees, rivers, flowers, rocks, insects and of course animals. It wasn’t just that these things were alive (and they were), but that they possessed the exact qualities of aliveness as myself, as every human,” Kars writes on her website. “As an adult I stumbled upon the metaphysical philosophy called animism, discovering that my sensory connection to the environment is not only shared by others but is also a core belief among many ancient cultures. For myself and others, animism is not simply a child’s fanciful conception, but a legitimate mode of perceiving the world.”

Kars, who has worked as an artist since she graduated with an art degree from San Francisco State, lives and works in an old one-room school house in west Sebastopol.

A class portrait by Molly Kars. (From her website)

“I do a lot of commissions,” she said. “People have me do their family portraits as spirit animals. People usually send me pictures of their family, like either a group picture or they have multiple pictures that I can just compile and make it to one image.”

A spirit animal, common in many indigenous traditions, refers to a spirit in animal form which helps guide or protect a person and whose characteristics that person shares. 

“Most people already have a sense of what their spirit animal is,” Kars said. “Sometimes they don't, and I have a set of questions where I try to get to know who they are and their character and style or personality. Then I give them some options, and we just go back and forth on what would work for their portrait. And then I do these backgrounds that are meaningful to the subjects, like a natural landscape or flowers or plants, something that's significant to the family or the person who commissioned me to do the piece.”

Kars said her own spirit animal is a goat.

“My spirit animal evolves as I evolve. However, my constant spirit is the goat. I grew up with them and always identify with their loving nature and their willingness to climb to the top of mountains. Like the goat, I’m very loyal to my herd and also full of spunk, yet endearing and sweet,” Kars said. “I also have the fox as my spirit guide. The fox visits me often so I feel a special connection with him/her. They are cunning and intelligent creatures, not easy to catch, but also willing to let down their guard and be your friend given the right circumstance.” 

Kars’ intricate pieces (oil on panel board) often take about a month to complete and range from $2,500 to $5,000.

Some of her works are homages to different artists. She did an entire series of portraits based upon Van Gogh portraits, 130 of them, called Van Goats. She also did a series of Frieda Cow-los.

Part of the Van Goat series by Molly Kars. (From her website)

Part of her Frieda Kahlo series. (From her website)

“I was just working with puns and trying to make whimsical, fun games,” she said.

Kars, who’s lived in Sebastopol for five years, participated in Art Trails for the first time this year.

“That was an experiment for me, and it went really well,” she said.

Does she ever get tired of painting animals?

“No, it's so fun,” she said. “I've been doing it for a long time now, but it hasn’t gotten old. I love it.”  

You can see more of her work on her website.