Kathy Snow Stratton
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Kathy Snow Stratton
Kathy Snow Stratton Biography
KATHY SNOW STRATTON
Email: ksspainter@gmail.com
Website: www.kathysnowstratton.com
Instagram: Kathy Snow Stratton
ARTIST BIO
Minnesota based artist Kathy Snow Stratton is best known for her large contemporary gestural acrylic abstract paintings. Each work is optically charged with a subtle complexity of engaging harmonic fields layered with meditative paint applications and a myriad of gestural brushstrokes. Stratton has been an abstract painter since 2005. She credits the Maine woods for her breakthrough into abstraction. The overlapping of branches in the afternoon light of winter inspired and challenged her to paint the chaos of the spaces of light in between. Dynamically she has been caught in the elusive in between ever since. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Stratton’s paintings transcend from the metaphorical to the universal in meaning. They are as much about looking as they are about her latent personal truth.
Kathy Snow Stratton was raised in Skowhegan, Maine a small town bordering the Big Woods and the Kennebec River. At an early age she marveled at light on water, the beauty that is Maine and at her utopian freedom to explore waterways, fields and the forests at her doorstep. It is then not surprising that the tree and light in between branches would become the key and the metaphor for her to explore abstract painting.
Kathy Snow Stratton has lived and exhibited her work in the Northeastern United States, Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest. She is a graduate of the University of Maine at Orono and earned her Masters in Studio Painting from Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, MD. She is a masters artist educator and has taught art for public schools and college level institutions in Virginia, Maine, Maryland and Pennsylvania. In early 2023 Stratton showed her paintings in the Abstract Exhibition at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts, Wayzata, MN and the Arts North International 28 Exhibition at Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, MN. She is currently showing in the Muse 12 x 12 Members Exhibition, Studio 21 at the Grand Marais Artist Colony, Grand Marais, MN. Stratton’s upcoming shows are the Abstract Essence of Nature at the Reedy Gallery, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chaska, MN November 2023 through January 2024, the 64th Arrowhead Regional Biennial at the Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth, MN December 2023 through February 2024 and the Unexpected Ends with sculptor Dennis Kalow at the Redepenning Gallery, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, MN in May 2024.
Kathy Snow Stratton Statement
It all began when I became more interested about painting the spaces of light in between the branches of a tree than the branches themselves. Dynamically I have been caught in this elusive chaos of complexity of the in between ever since. In a nutshell, this inquiry has flung me into a universe delving into the empty and full, the micro to macro, the now and then and darkness into light. This is where I paint somewhere in between nothingness and the ineffable. My work abstractly wrestles to represent a union of these in between spaces even though it seems like an impossibility. Initially intentional in process these paintings are generally random, intuitive and emotive. At times it seems the works are painting themselves and I am just the instrument.
With a similar and specific construct of self imposed limitations, each work is created as one in a series of three. This process opens up rather than constricts possibility for me. Paint is dripped and I watch as each painting begins to paint itself. A scaffolding of gestural brushstrokes are applied to the foundational grid of dripped paint. Dense unified layers result in optically charged fields with an all over harmonious effect that inevitably gives each painting associative meaning for me.
Discoveries of the metaphorical and the metaphysical unfold with process. In our otherwise chaotic and random world there is in my view a universal order and unifying light that connects us all. There is something both pure and perfect about this assumption that moves me to paint. Painting takes me to unexpected places. These works engage me like no other. They transport, test and surprise me with their realm of possibility and specificity.
Kathy Snow Stratton Resumé
KATHY SNOW STRATTON
Website: www.kathysnowstratton.com
Email: ksspainter@gmail.com
PRESENT
Contemporary Abstract Painter
Born: Skowhegan, Maine
Lives: Buffalo, Minnesota
EDUCATION
2005 MFA in Studio Painting, Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, MD; Mentor: Timothy App
1978 BS Art Education, University of Maine, Orono, ME
HONORS AND AWARDS
2023 Sponsor Award: Minnesota Art Center Award, Arts North International 28, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, MN; Visual Arts Manager: Jim Clark, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, MN
2022 Juror’s Special Merit Award, 27th Annual Extremely Minnesota, Robbin Gallery, Robbinsdale, MN; Juror: Amy Sands, Dept. Chair of Fine Arts, Metropolitan State University, St. Paul
2015 Artist Residency, Hewnoaks Artist Colony, Kezar Lake, Lovell, ME; Jurors: George Kinghorn, Director and Curator of the Zillman Art Museum, Bangor, ME; Dozier Bell, Maine based Artist and Painter; Megan Grumbling, Writer
2010 Residency Grant, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
2008 Semi-Finalist Fourth Annual Bethesda Painting Awards, Bethesda, MD; Jurors: Timothy App, Professor of Painting, MICA, Baltimore, MD; Dr. Anne Collins Goodyear, Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; Reni Gower, Professor of Painting and Printmaking, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond,VA
2006 Gallery Selection Invitational Finalist, Alpan International 2006, Alpan Gallery, Huntington, Long Island, NY; Juror: Donald Kuspit, American Author, Art Critic
2005 Juror’s Award, 12th Annual Juried Show, Essex Art Center, Lawrence, MA; Juror: Howard Yezerski of Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
2005 Final Nine of New England Artists, Bromfield Solo 05, Bromfield Art Gallery, SOWA Art District, Boston, MA; Juror: Cheryl Brutvan, Beal Curator of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
2003-2005 Fellowship MFA in Painting, Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, MD
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 New Work, Solo Show, October 4-October 21, 2023; One Division Art Gallery, Buffalo, MN; Director and Curator: Christopher Hoffman, One Division Art Gallery, Buffalo, MN
2007 Interstices, Invitational Visiting Artist Solo Exhibition, Gallery I, Bromfield Art Gallery, SOWA Art District, Boston, MA
2005 MFA in Studio Art Thesis Exhibition, Rosenberg Gallery, Brown Center, MICA, Baltimore, MD
2001 Spirit and Space, Solo Exhibition, Leapin’ Lizard Gallery, Bar Harbor, ME
SELECTED EXHIBITION
2024 Unexpected Ends, May 16, 2024-June 15, 2024; Redepenning Gallery with Sculptor Dennis Kalow, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, MN; Visual Arts Manager: Jim Clark, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, MN
2024 64th Arrowhead Regional Biennial, December 8, 2023-February 3, 2024; Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota Duluth, MN; Juror: Aya Kawaguchi; Exhibitions Director and Curator: Amy Varsek, Duluth Art Institute, Duluth, MN
2023 The Abstract Essence of Nature, November 2, 2023-January 21, 2024; Reedy Gallery, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chaska, MN; Curator: Wendy DePaolis, Curator of Art and Sculpture, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chaska, MN
2023 Muse 12 x 12 Members Exhibition, September 22-October 21, 2023; Studio 21, Grand Marais Art Colony, Grand Marais, MN; Artistic Director: Ruth Pszwaro, Grand Marais Art Colony, Grand Marais, MN
2023 Abstract, The Minnetonka Center for the Arts, Wayzata, MN. Exhibits Director: Robert Bowman, The Minnetonka Center for the Arts, Wayzata, MN
2023 Arts North International 28, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, MN; Visual Arts Manager: Jim Clark, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, MN
2022 27th Annual Extremely Minnesota Art Exhibition, Robbin Gallery, Robbinsdale, MN; Director: Jeanne Johnson, Robbinsdale, MN; Juror: Amy Sands, Dept. Chair of Fine Arts, Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, MN
2018 Color Field: A Group Show, Artspan Homepage, Artspan the Art Marketplace Online; www.artspan.com
2015 Cosmos: Imagining the Universe, A National Juried Exhibition, Mezzanine Gallery, Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Art Center, In Association with the Smithsonian Institution, Lowell, MD; Curator of Exhibitions: Melissa Langley; Juror: Dr. Andrew Johnston, Geographer, Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC
2015 Snow Day: Group Show, Artspan Homepage, Artspan the Art Marketplace Online, www.artspan.com
2014 Group Show:Gallery II, Seraphin Gallery, A Contemporary Philadelphia Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; Director and Curator: Anthony Seraphin of the Seraphin Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2014 Color: National Juried Art Show NYC, BWAC, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition Warehouse Gallery, Red Hook, Brooklyn, NYC; Juror: Lauren Hinkson, Curator for Collections at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC, NY
2014 Group Show: Gallery II, Seraphin Gallery, A Contemporary Philadelphia Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; Director and Curator: Anthony Seraphin of the Seraphin Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2014 Transformations: From One Thing to Another, McLean Project for the Arts, Emerson Gallery, McLean, VA; Juror: Jack Rasmussen, Director and Curator of the American University Museum at the Katzen, Washington, DC
2008 CMCA 2008 Biennial Juried Exhibition, Center for Maine Contemporary Art,
Rockport, Maine; Jurors: Carole Anne Meehan, Curator, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; Scott Peterman, Photographer; Andrea Pollan, Founder and Director, Curator’s Office, Washington, DC
2008 Lotta Art, Invitational Benefit, School 33, Baltimore, MD
2008 9th Annual SU National Exhibition, Kauffman Gallery, Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA; Juror: Stephen Haller, Stephen Haller Gallery, NYC, NY
2008 Constructing Form, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA; Curators: Vaughn Garland, Allison Andrews and Brad Birchett of 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA
2008 Personal Geometry, McLean Project for the Arts, Emerson Gallery, McLean, VA; Curator: Nancy Sausser, MPA Exhibitions Director, McLean, VA
2007 Strictly Painting 6: Color Field Revisited, Biennial, McLean Project for the Arts, Emerson Gallery, McLean, VA; Juror: Kristen Hileman, Assistant Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian, Washington, DC
2006 2006 National Prize Show, Cambridge Art Association, University Place Gallery, Cambridge, MA; Juror: Cheryl Brutvan, Beal Curator of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
2005 12th Annual Juried Show, Essex Art Center, Lawrence, MA; Juror: Howard Yezerski of Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
2005 Prodigal Summer, G-Spot Gallery, Baltimore, MD; Curator: Cara Ober
2004 MFA Group Show, Rosenberg Gallery, Brown Center, MICA, Baltimore, MD
2003 MFA Group Show, Pinkard Gallery, Bunting Center, MICA, Baltimore, MD
2002 Group Show, Vincent’s Ear Gallery, Deer Isle, ME
2002 Art in the Heart, Artist Educator Exhibition, Bangor Library, Bangor, ME
1999 Delaplaine Annual Juried Exhibition, The Delaplaine, Frederick, MD; Juror: Kristin Hileman, Assistant Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian, Washington, DC
1980 The Waterworks, Philadelphia, PA
1980 The Rittenhouse Art Annual, Philadelphia, PA
WORK EXPERIENCE
2008- 2016 John Tyler Community College, Chester, VA
2006-2016 Center for the Arts, Chesterfield County Public Schools, Chester, VA
2001-2005 Ellsworth School District, Ellsworth, ME
1994-2001 Frederick County Public Schools, Frederick, MD
1992-1987 Fairfax County Public Schools, Springfield, VA