| Kathleen Hope grew up in Duluth, Minnesota. Her mother is a watercolorist and her great aunt whose abstract works were exhibited with the Smithsonian Institute. As a child, Kathleen was a tomboy, playing hockey with her father, riding horses and fishing with her grandfather. She also attended art fairs and classes with her mother. Her first attempt as an artist was through music in her teenage years. She played guitar, drums and sang with a traveling group. After receiving a BA in physical education and nutrition, she next tried bodybuilding and taught the college football team weight training (you can imagine how that went over). Never afraid to try anything and always adventuresome, she was searching for her artistic path. In 1991, she moved to San Diego, California and started designing clothes. After one year, her designs were in the Historical Hotel Del Coronado and appeared in a feature article in the newspaper. This success and recognition gave her the confidence to further explore her art. After 3 years in California, she was transferred back to Minneapolis, Minnesota. In Minneapolis, Kathy met and took a class from Master Decorative Painter, Karl-Heinz Meschbach. He recognized her talent and hired her to assist him for 8 months. Through him, she learned antiquing, faux finishing, marbleizing in the European tradition, and discipline. Karl's approach was to pursue excellence by competing with yourself and not others. This approach was instrumental in her success along with other lessons in discipline, patience, responsibility and professionalism. She has worked as a professional Decorative Painter and Color Consultant since 1995. This has greatly influenced her Fine Art, as has her Degree in Color Psychology and studies in Feng Shui, Asian art, history and calligraphy. Working in the design field, she found an attraction to Mid-Century Modern and Japanese Architecture. Painters of the past and present, like Matisse, Turner, Degas, Picasso, Diebenkorn, Okado Kenzo, Wolf Kahn, and the Abstract Expressionists, continue to inspire her. Kathleen is especially drawn to the fine artists referred to as colorists. She recognizes color goes beyond the visual. It is symbolic and links to emotions, alters mood, aids in orientation and is linked to image associations. Color is part of the conscious, subconscious and unconscious. Kathleen believes the artist can express inner emotions onto canvas through color, especially when they understand their own personal connection to it. Purposeful color and design is essential for her artistic expression and is a lifelong pursuit. Her overall approach to art is best described by Matisse, "The choice of my color is based on observation, on feeling, and experience of sensibility. I would like people to know that they must not approach color casually, that a severe preparation is required to be worthy of it." |
