Publisher: Matthews Gallery Publications Santa Fe, New Mexico Š 2011 by Matthews Gallery, All Rights Reserved. All artwork Š 2011 Kate Rivers All rights are reserved and no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise whatsoever without the prior written permission from the publisher.
Matthews Gallery 669 Canyon Road Santa Fe, NM 87501 505.992.2882 www.thematthewsgallery.com
Kate Rivers “Pastiche” August 2011
Art as alchemy
Kate Rivers is an alchemist. She takes common materials - stamps, pages from old books, postcards, scraps of letters, maps, menus, bits of string, badges, notes she finds on the street, drawings and other bits of ephemera - and transforms them into a rich visual record of experience. She is fascinated by the abstract forms of bird’s nests and uses those forms as a unifying motif in her work. The visual metaphor is fitting because her working process parallels that of a bird building a nest - she weaves together the strands of collage materials until they take the shape of her memory. She says of her work, “I pick up bits and pieces that are records of where I am and what I’m doing and weave these fragments all together and in that way each work represents a very concrete record of who I am and where I am at that moment in my life”. Ms. River’s work is visually intense, vibrant and nuanced. Speaking of her working process she commented, “I am really painting with the collage materials, so I select elements based on their color, their surface texture and how they are going to fit thematically within the piece because each piece has a specific theme”. She works on canvas, paper or panel and often employs paint and graphite in addition to collage elements. Ms. Rivers takes materials that we often discard and infuses them with a dignity and significance founded on her artistic vision. Her art is a fascinating combination of the personal and the universal that reminds us of what it means to be fully engaged with both the surface world and the inner worlds of memory and experience. - Lawrence Matthews, Santa Fe, August 2011
Big Star 45 x 45 inches Mixed media on canvas
Magic Lantern 36 x 36 inches Mixed media on canvas
Apollo’s Arrow 55 x 80 inches Mixed media on paper
Blue Valentine 34 x 36 inches Mixed media on paper
Antigone 34 x 36 inches Mixed media on panel
Passionate 24 x 24 inches Mixed media on panel
The Blacks 55.5 x 69 inches Mixed media on paper
National Parks 44 x 58 inches Mixed media on paper
Our House 34 x 36 inches Mixed media on panel
Southern Manor 54 x 52 inches Mixed media on canvas
Star Stories 40 x 48 inches Mixed media on paper
Lucky Guy 40 x 48 inches Mixed media on paper