Today we’d like to introduce you to Katrina Rasmussen.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
When I first began experimenting with oils six years ago, I understood what Pablo Neruda meant when he wrote, “something started in my soul, fever or forgotten wings.” From the time I was a young child, the arts have captivated me- dance, theatre, music, literature… but it was not until I picked up oil painting (on a lark, and against the advice of almost everyone I knew), that I found my artistic home. It isn’t often in life that you can hear the audible click of something wonderful falling into place- but that is what happened to me, when I applied oil to canvas for the first time.
I am self-taught, by which I mean that I learned by making fantastic messes, and through the kindness of other artists I met. Over the years, I have developed a system of creating mixed media works with oil paint. I love the transparent qualities of the oils, which I can manipulate so that the layers of paint, collage, or plaster underneath are either hidden or exposed.
Many of my works explore places and what they mean to the people who inhabit them. I had a breakthrough moment when I painted the Lakewood Theater for the first time, with layers of local collage materials that formed a kind of site-specific iconography in the background. I love to tell stories through my art: constructing images that evoke a sort of nostalgia, either for the land or for man-made spaces on it. When people connect with a painting of mine, they often share stories that they have about being in that particular place.
Please tell us about your art.
The question I often ask myself when I start a project is, “What is the magic of this place? What makes it special?” We all know that feeling of “coming home”- even if it is just returning to a place that you visited once, but that really made an impression on you. That feeling of personal connection to some specific location is what I try to evoke through my art. Landscapes, cities and buildings have their own personalities, and we respond to them in different ways and for different reasons. The feeling that I get when I cross the bridge on I-10 into New Orleans is different from the way I feel in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains outside of Santa Fe. Whether it is nostalgia, a bit of Texas swagger, or the arresting beauty of the land itself, I want people to remember how it feels to abide in a particular place when they look at my artwork.
Once I have a sense of the personality of where I am painting, I go to work on the physical construction of the piece. Often this involves mining old National Geographic magazines, back issues of D-Magazine or the Observer, or playbills or visitor maps for images that connect to the place I am painting. I layer these in a collage to form the background of my subject. Sometimes I treat the collage materials with chemicals to age them, sometimes I wipe the pigment away or incorporate other items (raffia, handmade papers, dried flowers). I seal everything in, gesso it, and compose the subject on top in oils.
More recently, I have fallen in love with Venetian Plaster as a base layer for oil paint. The process of using it is physically demanding- you apply multiple layers with a trowel, working the plaster with sandpaper and burnishing it with smooth metal until it glows. I layer oil and cold wax over it, working with contrasting textures: the smooth, almost marble-like quality of the plaster verses the heavy-bodied paint.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
Artists often do their own public relations and marketing, manage their own websites, and deal with the business side of running a small business along with carving out time to create works in the studio. I think having to split your mindset between business and creating can be difficult because success at either one requires a lot of time and a great deal of focus.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My studio space is in East Dallas, near White Rock Coffee off of Northwest Highway. It is a working studio, but I love having visitors by appointment! You can also see my work at Kettle Art Gallery in Deep Ellum, and at the new Art Annex on Northwest Highway and Ferndale.
Along with gallery shows, I do several pop-up style markets throughout the year. The best way to keep up to date with upcoming shows is to follow me online. I am on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/K.M.RasmussenFineArt, Instagram @kmrasmussenfineart, and I handle commissions and inquiries through my website at www.kmrasmussenfineart.com.
I will have several brand new pieces at Kettle Art’s next show, Summer Sessions, which opens July 12 and runs through August 4th.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kmrasmussenfineart.com
- Phone: 214-500-9391
- Email: kmrasmussenfineart@gmail.com
- Instagram: @kmrasmussenfineart
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/K.M.RasmussenFineArt
Image Credit:
Kettle Art Gallery
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