Kim Bullock is the youngest great-grandchild of Carl and Madonna Ahrens. Having grown up surrounded by his art and mementoes of their life together, she has always felt a deep connection to their story. As a writer and researcher, she has made it her mission to help preserve and share the legacy of one of Canada’s most distinct and underappreciated landscape painters.
Through archival research, family photographs, correspondence, exhibition catalogs, and an unpublished memoir written by Madonna Ahrens, Kim has brought together a comprehensive record of Ahrens’ life and work. She is also putting the final polish on The Oak Lovers, a fictionalized account of her great-grandparents’ lives together. It is a bittersweet tale of obsession, sacrifice, and redemption that would appeal to readers of biographical fiction such as Loving Frank, Z and The Paris Wife.
Kim has an MA in English from Iowa State University and is an assistant editor and contributor for Writer Unboxed, which has been named one of the Best 101 Websites by Writer’s Digest from 2007–2026. She would love to hear from anyone who has stories or information on Ahrens, or who owns any of his art. She is compiling a catalog of all known work and has located roughly 450 pieces to date.
Connect with Kim here, on her author site, or at Writer Unboxed.