ABOUT

Biography

Kate grew up in rural central Idaho. She earned a BFA from Central Washington University and completed her MFA from the University of Montana in 2016, Kate lives in Silverton, Idaho where she maintains her studio practice and teaches Art in Wallace, Idaho.

Artist Statement

The drawings and sculptures are part of an ongoing investigation to find a true point of orientation to the natural environment.

My relationship to the natural environment began as a kid building forts and clambering through the woods. This led me to spend eight summers working as a wildland firefighter. Now I spend most of my time observing nature from my bike or a pair of skis.

I will always maintain an acute awareness of sensory occurrences in the natural environment. I know the sound of wood snapping inside an unstable tree and that fire sounds like a freight train as it burns through the canopy of the forest. I have quietly studied the intricate patterns of river rocks as well as the slow, ominous expansion of thunderclouds.

The drawings contain both careful analysis through delicate rendering, and urgent movements demonstrated through broad, gestural mark-making. The sculptures function as a three dimensional response to experiences in the landscape, while the tent poles, plastic plumbing, wire fencing, and zippers are evidence of humans engaging and interacting with the natural environment.

By studying, recombining and distressing these images and materials, I remain in appreciation of nature’s beauty while also communicating a sense of apprehension and anxiety.

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