©kathyfergusonart.com. Avalanche, private collection
Biography
I am a mixed media artist splitting my time between Colorado and New York City. I paint colorful abstract artwork that is joyous and richly layered. Using combinations of geometric and organic shapes, I create imaginary worlds using paint, hand-printed papers, and ink. My colors are often bold and saturated alluding to worlds that are more illusionary than authentic, places more commonly found in dreams than in reality.
My paintings have been exhibited in galleries coast to coast, including the National Association of Women Artists Gallery in New York. My work is held in many collections including the Plaza Hotel in New York City, the Four Seasons Hotel in Houston, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Belmond Grand Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg, Russia.
I received my MFA from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
Artist Statement
I love both science and nature. As a former engineer, the precision of science lets me feel in control. But as an artist, I’m also drawn to the diversity of the natural world. I create artwork that blends this duality, finding examples of their union all around me. I see beauty in parallel railway tracks overgrown with tangled weeds. Or the ordered lines of a musical staff sprinkled with random notes. I merge logical patterns with creative elements to tell stories in my colorful, abstract paintings.
Each painting starts with a story. I set a structured framework, then overrun it with a flow of organic shapes to support the narrative. My first layer might be a rigid grid that will brace a cascading tumble of vines. Or a wall of vertical columns overrun by an army of circles. I artfully meld science and nature in my work to show the beauty of these two opposites and their symbiotic balance as they blend beautifully together to tell a story.
Some little-known facts about me
Exhibition History
Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions | |
2018 | Merging Science & Nature, Delaplaine Art Center, Frederick, MD |
2016 | Whimsical Worlds, Corks on Columbus, New York, NY |
Fantastical Landscapes, Matted LIC, Long Island City, NY | |
In the Realm of Dreams, Front Street Gallery, Patterson, NY | |
2013-4 | Abstract Landscapes, Café Joul, New York, NY |
Select Group Exhibitions | |
2021 | Perennial Power: Women, Art, Nature, Nat’l Asscoiation of Women Artists, Miami Beach Botanical Garden, Miami Beach, FL |
Starting Again, ArtWorks Gallery of Northwood, West Palm Beach, FL | |
2020 | Every Color has a Story, Flagler County Art League Gallery, Palm Coast, FL |
Drawing in the time of Social Distancing, The Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY | |
National Collage Society 23rd Annual Small Format Exhibit, The Hill School Boyer Gallery, Pottstown, PA | |
LiC-A Spring Online Exhibition, Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY | |
2019 | National League of American Pen Women, Belskie Museum of Art & Science, Closter, NJ |
Off the Wall II Holiday Art Fair, Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY | |
Beach Elements V, sTudio 7 Gallery, Fort Tilden, NY | |
Transitions Spring Showcase, The Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY | |
Women Celebrating Creativity, Nat’l Association of Women Artists, New York, NY | |
9th Annual Figurative Exhibition, Light Space & Time Art Gallery, Palm Spring, CA | |
Red Envelope Show, Flushing Town Hall, Flushing, NY | |
2018 | Painter Ladies of NLAPW, Waterside Plaza Gallery, New York, NY |
Off the Wall, The Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY | |
National Collage Society, 34th Annual Juried Exhibition, Hudson, OH | |
Exhibit C, The Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY | |
Rock. Paper. Scissors, The Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY | |
The Five Napkin Show, The Factory, Long Island City, NY | |
LiC-A@ATLANTIC, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY | |
Making Connections II, Henry DeFord Gallery, Long Island City, NY | |
2017 | Garden of Delights, The Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY |
The Art of Heirloom, National Heirloom Expo, Santa Rosa, CA | |
Making Connections, The Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY | |
Walk in Light, The Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY | |
8 Loves, The Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY | |
2016 | LIC Arts Open-Fall Salon Show, Willis Building, LIC, NY |
The June Bugs, Friday Studio Gallery, Brooklyn, NY | |
Show One, The Falchi Building, Long Island City, NY | |
Over the Bridge II, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY | |
2015 | Blue, Front Street Gallery, Patterson, NY |
LiC-A Salon Exhibition, The Falchi Building, LIC, NY |
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Valdosta National 2015, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA | |
Celebrating Queens Artists, CitiCorp Building, LIC, NY | |
Made in Reis, Reis Studios, Long Island City, NY | |
LIC Artists 30th Anniversary Exhibit, Paper Factory Hotel, Queens, NY | |
Over the Bridge, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY | |
2014 | The Elegant Nude, The Gallery at the Watershed, Eugene, OR |
Abstract Sanctuary, Vernum Ultimum Gallery, Portland, OR | |
Small Works by LIC-Artists, CitiCorp Building, Long Island City, NY | |
Summer Remix: A Group Salon, Madelyn Jordon Fine Art Gallery, Scarsdale, NY | |
Small Works Exhibit, National Assoc. of Women Artists, New York, NY | |
The 1st Salon Show of 2014, The Greenpoint Gallery, Brooklyn, NY | |
The Visual Language of Contemporary Art, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, NY | |
2013 | Second Annual 10×10 Benefit Exhibit, Reis Studios, Long Island City, NY |
2012 | 10×10 Benefit Exhibit, ArtPlusLIC, Reis Studios, Long Island City, NY |
Corporate Collections | |
Four Seasons Hotel and Resort, Houston, TX | |
The Plaza Hotel, New York, NY | |
The Belmond Grand Hotel Europe, St. Petersburg, Russia | |
Boston Childen’s Hospital, Boston, MA | |
Roundup River Ranch Camp (a Paul Newman Serious Fun Camp), Dotsero, CO |
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