We all carry evolving narratives shaped by our experiences, travels, and imagination. My work reflects this idea through its topobiographical nature, responding to memories of place embedded in the landscape. It engages with intertwined and complex histories while also addressing urgent issues of human rights, women’s rights, and climate change.
My practice is marked by dreamlike qualities, where translucent and opaque elements coexist. Process and materiality are central to my approach. I build layers of abstraction and representation through a wide range of media, including acrylic, spray paint, pencil, and various collaged and assembled objects. Techniques such as wiping, sanding, cutting, printing, painting, and drawing all become ways of constructing and deconstructing meaning.
Influenced by my years as a curator, my work draws from an eclectic range of sources. The sensibility of the Baroque, elements of Surrealism, decorative arts, craft traditions, photography, and the complex ties between landscape, memory, and the female body all inform my visual language.
BIOGRAPHY
In late 2017, Kathy left her 20-year curatorial position to make art full-time. Her successful exhibition and sales record includes solo and group exhibitions in Chicago, Provincetown, Milwaukee, and Denver. In 2022-23, Kathy received a grant from the Iowa Arts Council for a catalogue of her work. Although she has a wonderful studio in Iowa, Kathy has been a resident at Edgewood Farm (Castle Hill, Truro, MA) and Grand Marais Art Center, MN, and is a fellow of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her work is in the collection of University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, St. Ambrose University, and many private collections.
From 1998 to 2018, Kathy was a curator at University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art. From 1989 to 1998 she was director of The Print Center in Philadelphia. Her graduate degree is from The University of the Arts, Philadelphia. Kathy has received many grants for her curatorial work from the National Endowment for the Arts to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Her writing is published extensively. Upon leaving the UISMA, Kathy and her husband established the Kathleen Edwards Purchase Fund for Contemporary Art by American Women.
