artists
KATHERINE LOVE
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Artist Statement
Most recently Love’s artworks have been
influenced by old cookbooks and domestic science texts from the
1920s to the 1960s. Continuing an exploration of traditional women’s
roles in society, these works refer to certain food-preparation
techniques (such as Jello molds) as well as the expectations for
domestic work placed on women in the past as well as today. In her
paintings, pre-printed fabrics develop the composition and provide
a conceptual connection to historically female tasks such as laundry,
ironing and sewing. Household materials such as curtains, sheets,
lace, doilies, and floral patterns refer to domesticity, while embroidery
and sewing are particularly time-consuming crafts that women were
expected to practice. Love is interested in the duality within herself
between the acceptance and embracing of certain traditional roles,
and needing to question that which she is willing to perform and
include in her life.
Love’s most recent method of working
with mixed-media techniques first involves creating a drawing with
graphite on paper. She then stitches together pieces of fabric and
mounts these along with the drawing to a prepared board. After mounting,
she coats the surface with a protective layer of acrylic matte medium.
Beeswax mixed with paraffin is melted and brushed onto the surface.
Love then paints using oils. She will go back into the surface many
times to scratch or melt away wax and paint to reveal patterns in
the fabrics or elements of the drawing. The resulting layers and
textures add to the visual interest of the piece as well as the
tactile quality of the surface.
Biography
Born in Santa Monica, California in 1967, Katherine
Love received her BA in Art and Dramatic Arts from the University
of California, Santa Barbara in 1990. In 1995 she moved to Honolulu
from Venice, California to attend The University of Hawaii at Manoa,
where she received her MFA in painting in 1998. She has worked at
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu for the past 9 years, first as
Receptionist/Assistant to the Director, and presently as Exhibitions
Coordinator. She currently lives in Honolulu with her husband, printmaker
Charles Cohan, and their daughter Sabrina.
Love has had solo exhibitions at Hui No‘eau
Visual Arts Center on Maui, thirtyninehotel in Honolulu, Kirsch Gallery
at Punahou School, and Hawaii Pacific University Art Gallery in Kaneohe.
Recent group exhibitions include Artists of Hawaii 2007 at
The Honolulu Academy of Arts; Seven: Up at The Academy Art
Center at Linekona, Honolulu; Rouge at Indigo Contemporary
Art, Norfolk, VA; and Recent Acquisitions of Works by Hawaii Artists
at The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu. After traveling to Italy
in 2002 and 2003, she developed a body of work influenced by found
fabrics, postcards of tourist destinations, and the art and architecture
of Rome and Tuscany. In 2004 she completed a commission of six paintings
for the lobby of Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties in Honolulu. Her
work can be viewed at katherinelove.com. |
