About the Artist
Find me:
https://facebook.com/artpagekathleen.smits
I support and/or am a member of the following organizations:
American Artists Professional League: aaplinc.org
Connecticut Women Artists: ctwomenartists.org/
West Hartford Art League: westhartfordart.org
I love music, too:
Patchy Fog trio: http://patchyfogmusic.wix.com/home
ARTIST STATEMENT
The last several years of worldwide events have altered the way I look at my work. My landscapes on canvas I consider preservations of a beautiful and threatened planet. They are meant to impart a sense of place so the viewer gets immersed in being there. They are also meant to impart the serenity that beauty can bring. I am more mindful than ever before how fleeting that can all be, therefore the sense of preservation the canvas brings.
The landscape is central to my work and my being. It continues to inspire two different processes. In my digital abstracts, I use elements of the environment with constructed objects. They are put together so that the inorganic and the organic coalesce. The complexities meet and context is re-created. I intend to express my sense of change and chaos on a beautiful planet.
BIO
Kathleen (Kathy) has been teaching art for over 25 years in various places and institutions. She currently is adjunct faculty at CT State Manchester teaching intro and advanced computer graphics for the Graphic Design program of the Fine Arts department.
She holds a BS in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and an MA in Spirituality from Hartford International University for Religion and Peace (formerly Hartford Seminary). She earned a graduate certificate in Graphic Design and another in Women's Leadership.
Kathy grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts and lived there until her late twenties. She then followed her fiance to Texas before returning to New England 8 years later. In Texas she found a mentor, James Stegall, who was training artists that wanted to paint landscapes in oils. James was trained at the Pennsylvania Academy for the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. She also studied with Dennis Blagg and Jenny Corbin. When she arrived in Connecticut after living in Texas she furthered her art career by teaching. She taught at private schools and prep schools as well as local programs for adults and children. Kathy has always felt that teaching made her a better artist.