arts Dreamscape Art
Kat Silvers Brings Her Spirit World to Life By Abby Baker
KAT SILVERS
“Don’t Look Back.” Kat Silvers moved to Gulfport from Philadelphia this year to create art with her children by the beach.
Halfway between a dream world and reality, Kat Silvers creates creepy, animalistic creatures through oil on canvas. The 42-year-old picked up a shaky paintbrush at 7, and eventually graduated from Drexel University in Philadelphia with a degree in art therapy. “I’m fascinated with dreams and the worlds inside us,” Silvers said. “My work is a journey into the imagination with hybrid people guiding the way.” The Rochester, New York native lived in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston, traveling by train and selling her work before moving to
Gulfport with her children just a few months ago. “I wanted to live my whole life right by the ocean,” Silvers said. “I have children..we make art together.” Even though she’s said goodbye for now to urban life on the East Coast, Silver’s style reflects the edgy oddball-ism of the Philadelphia art world. Sweet Dreams Are Made of These Silvers’s cheery personality is a stark contrast to her art, where a world of rabbits, frogs, pigs and other soft barnyard souls look out
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through blank eyes, thin smiles and narrow, willowy frames, The artist began her now-signature style about six years ago, and got pulled into a dream-like wormhole. “It’s sort of like a play, but these characters are not on a stage; they’re acting out their own stories,” Silvers said. “My mission through my artwork is to get people’s attention, to remind them to live life.” She pairs moody backgrounds grounded in realism with the simple lines and emotionless expressions of her characters, resulting in an element of genuine eeriness. “There are parts of us that are human and parts of us that are not, and it may creep us out to embrace that,” Silvers said. About the Rabbits Silvers experiments with many subjects, including women and even blue whales, but rabbits are a com-
theGabber.com | July 1, 2021 - July 7, 2021
