March 2019: Featured Artist |
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Award-Winning Painter & Visual Effects Artist
Katherine Kean
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Katherine Kean is an award-winning painter from Los Angeles and a former visual effects producer, designer and animator whose film credits include The Fly, Ghost, Stargate, and Willow. Katherine won an award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her work on The Day After.
A childhood of moving and traveling around the United States has shaped Katherine's vision, as have journeys to eastern Africa, Mexico, Scotland and France. Throughout her career she often hosted art exhibitions in her company’s studio space. In 2003, the role of part-time gallerist gave way to full-time painting. Katherine’s deep respect for natural landscapes and the weather is evidenced in her work. Cloud formations, rain, and storm patterns are common themes that she masterfully represents in oil. With her painting she seeks, “to stir wonder and excitement for the transformative impacts of weather, wildlife, and natural phenomena, all the while revealing the serene center that can sit in the midst of Nature’s turbulence.” |
Her paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the U.S., including solo exhibitions at Grants Pass Museum in Oregon, Red River Valley Museum in Texas, TAG Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, and Izen Miller Gallery in Palm Desert, California, and have been acquired by many private and corporate collections. Her work has been shown at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Rental and Sales Gallery and the Brand Library Art Gallery in Los Angeles. Her work has been presented in many publications and collections, including Bloomingdales in Santa Monica, CA, Schiffer’s 100 Artists of the West Coast II, and the National Weather Center 2015 Biennale.
Between the Drops
Oil on Linen © Katherine Kean |
Scattered Glow
Oil on Linen on Panel © Katherine Kean |
Branches of the Same Tree
Oil on Linen, Triptych
© Katherine Kean
Oil on Linen, Triptych
© Katherine Kean
Confetti Rain
Oil on Linen © Katherine Kean |
Billowing
Oil on Linen © Katherine Kean |
Arabesque in the Caldera
Oil on Canvas © Katherine Kean |
Converging Conditions
Oil on Linen © Katherine Kean |
Myrna Beth Haskell, managing editor, asked Katherine a few questions about her work and her future plans.
Liquid Sun on Chain of Craters Road
Oil on Linen © Katherine Kean |
How has your extensive work in visual effects for feature films influenced your painting?
My interest in natural phenomena was a key factor in the type of work I contributed to visual effects and is central to my painting. Most of the work I did in visual effects depicted atmospheric phenomena and light. I was often asked to animate a range of spectacles - sparks, electricity, fire, smoke, comets, and supernatural effects such as pixie dust and things that glow unnaturally. These displays demand an understanding of how physics affects the environment and how natural forms manifest during Nature’s events. Nature's brilliance as it's affected by weather changes is a common theme in many of your pieces. What do you find most compelling about the unpredictability of Mother Nature? To me, the most compelling aspect of Nature’s volatility is the sense of awe engendered at the realization that, as advanced and intelligent as we think we are, there is much that is far more vast and mysterious than we can understand. At the same time - and this may be a component of awe as an emotional state or maybe a comforting illusion - a sense of calm often pervades, even as Nature appears the most ominous. |
Any future plans you'd like to share?
My future plans include travel, gardening and an abundance of studio time. I have a wish list of wild places I’d love to visit and paint. I’ve also been exploring painting dreams and the rich variety of imagery that dreams can present.
Where do you find sanctuary? (#WheresYourSanctuary)
I find sanctuary within - in the heart, in Nature, among plants and trees, and in the company of animals.
My future plans include travel, gardening and an abundance of studio time. I have a wish list of wild places I’d love to visit and paint. I’ve also been exploring painting dreams and the rich variety of imagery that dreams can present.
Where do you find sanctuary? (#WheresYourSanctuary)
I find sanctuary within - in the heart, in Nature, among plants and trees, and in the company of animals.
