Artist Talk: Kate McAmon

Anna Groman Artist Talk: Kate McAmon I recently attending Kate McAmon’s talk about her artist residencies and how they changed her. Even though I knew she was a recent graduate from MICA, I was shocked to see how young she was. The fact that she had so many professional art experiences whilst still a student really inspired me because it was her go-get-em attitude that got her all of these amazing opportunities.

She started off her career as an artist at MICA painting bigger than life-size portraits of herself and family members (specifically her brother) with family heirlooms. These paintings did not get the reviews she had wanted and people’s feedback was rather negative. She was awarded the chance to have an artist residency in Norway with Odd Nerdrum and there she began to think about the textures she had previously been painting. The same residency also took place in France and it is there that she was inspired by Renaissance pieces. She showed us one of the paintings she did whilst there and the inspiration was very clear. I thought it was very interesting to clearly notice her inspiration because of hearing her discuss each piece.

She also traveled to Italy as a student and became obsessed with the hanging laundry in the windows and off balconies. She did a series of brightly colored paintings that really showed how different inspiration affects us – these pieces are completely different than her previous ones which were portraits instead of landscapes. She continued drawing laundry and moved on to charcoal window drawings. These drawings evolved when she returned to the States as she began to play with the idea of memory and how it affects us. This evolution of drawing really did show growth and the difference between the pieces is baffling. I really related to these pieces because I too am interested in memory and also because it was very clear what the images were meant to convey.

After she graduated from MICA, Kate McAmon went back to Italy and decided to start drawing on top of previous drawings. It was this overlap that led to her paintings that involved both landscapes and people. She soon returned to West Virginia and, feeling herself at a loss of what to do, she began looking at photo negatives. These she turned into paintings that she started in West Virginia and continued whilst back in Venice. She began to concentrate on different themes, such as that of twins. It was intriguing to see how an artist can change their work and create pieces that are so different from one another. From start to finish I would not think that the art pieces were created by the same person.