Running Fence

khm
Kate in Paria Canyon















KATE MCGEE PASTEL ARTIST

My pastel landscape paintings explore how light describes space. It surprised me to discover that they are the continuation of my career as a landscape architect.  I paint Oregon, on both sides of the Cascades.

I have been intrigued by the hedgerows of the Willamette Valley; the tension between the overlapping, looping blackberries, wild roses, redtwig dogwoods and hawthorns and the adjacent grasslands; the contrast between rows of a poplar woodland and roving heaps of uncontrolled blackberries.

I have been under the spell of the high desert, its dusty colors and empty spaces.

Now, I am experimenting with painting abstract spaces. They often begin as interiors but usually evolve into landscapes. The abstract work has informed my more objective paintings as I go back and forth between these two approaches to making space on paper. It has made all my paintings richer, teaching me to distill what is necessary to intrigue the mind's eye.
 
Exhibitions
July, 2009 Solo Show
Roadside Attractions

Altera Real Estate
25 NW Minnesota Ave
Bend, OR


April and May, 2009  Solo Show
Tate Common Hall
Roadside Attractions
Eugene, Oregon


April, 2009 Juried Members Show
Northwest Pastel Society
Blue Horse Gallery
Bellingham, Washington
Honorable Mention

October, 2008  Solo Show 
DIVA, Eugene, Oregon
Willamette Valley Views
(or, Places Between My House and Scott's House)

May, 2008
Emerald Art Center Spring
Juried National Exhibition
Frameworks Award 
Emerald Art Center, Springfield, OR

February, 2008 
Art by Architects
Juried Show
DIVA, Eugene, OR

Juried member: Pastel Society of Oregon
Member: Northwest Pastel Society
Member: Westcoast Pastel Society