This post is brought to you by Anna Rogulina, Assistant Curator.
Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of catching up with Kathleen Kolb and finding out a little more about what drives the art of this talented Vermont-based painter.
Kathleen’s Twilit House (2013), Winner of Viewers’ Choice Award! Oil on panel, 18 x 24 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Anna Rogulina (AR): What first inspired you to become an artist? What compels you to make art?
Kathleen Kolb (KK): Two things come to mind: beauty and illusion. I have always found beauty compelling and transfixing. And what I’ve been compelled to do is to try to transfix my experience of beauty to share with others. I’ve also found visual illusions delightful since I was young. Once when I was 4 I woke up early on Sunday morning and was playing with my brothers before our parents got up. We rearranged some small bookshelves and a table to create a little playhouse and were having a wonderful time. Then I got the brilliant idea that if I drew pictures of my brothers on the backs of the bookshelves (facing out), (imaginary) passers-by would believe those were windows and that they were seeing my brothers inside! This I commenced to do with the total belief that the illusion would be absolutely convincing!
New Britain Museum of American Art 