With her own studio in Brooklyn, NY, Kat — a marathon runner and dog trainer in her spare time — now focuses all her creative energies into the creation and development of her own line of ceramics and sculpture.
I have been working in clay for 16 years and my artistic sensibilities extend much further. I am the consummate artist. Every endeavour and experience finds expression in my work. At Rhode Island School of Design, I studied under Lawrence Bush. I specialized there not only in ceramics but also drawing, glass, woodworking and art history. In conjunction with RISD, I learned Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs at Brown University and studied abroad in Zimbabwe. Trips to Hawaii and Belize, as well as a period of time living in southern California where I served as an assistant to a glass fusion artist, have added a distinctly aquatic impression to my work.
As an emerging artist in the 21st century, I am very aware of societyÕs elimination of human contact and individuality in our everyday life. Through technology, planned communities, and so many other ways in which "life" is pushed aside to create our homogenous society, I find that my art strives more and more to remind us of the vitality and importance of human contact and individuality. As a person composed myself of many different cultures, I also strive to combine many different ideas while keeping their origins evident. Color and texture is very important to me. They can create moods, feelings and emotions without saying a word.
As I hope is evident in much of my work, I use Nature's forms to create my sculptures. I then layer bright colors onto the natural forms to create tension and surprise to my pieces. At the end I use glazes to enhance my patterns and beads to highlight certain aspects. As Nature's flower and aquatic fauna develop my patterns and textures so does culture develop my form and historical context. I often use American Indian, African and ancient Greek cultures to develop my ideas but no culture is exempt from reference in my work. The learning about each culture and layering of one cultureÕs ideas upon another brings me closer to the work and, in turn, closer to people.
I wanted to bring my art to a space thatÕs more usable and available to people. That's where my dinnerware line comes in. ItÕs a way to bring my artwork to a larger group of people and have it available for viewing and use in everyday life.